I.    S.    DEPARTMENT    OF   AGRICULTURE, 

BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY— BUI. l.l-ITIN  No,. 

li 


I  WAR'S    \V. 


SIOMA1T  IS. 


\\TJM     SPECIAL     Kl   l-KKK.NCK 

CK    IN 


CALVES   (CALF  DIPHTHERIA) 

A  N  r> 

PIGS  (SORE  MOUTH). 


JOHN  R.  MOHLER,  A.  M.,  V.  M.  D., 

Chief  of  Pathological  Division,  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry, 


GEO.  BYRON  MORSE,  M.  D.,  V.  S., 

!ant  in  Pathological  Division,  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVKUNM  KNT     PK1XT1NC,     OFFICE. 
1905. 


N  or  TIM:  nrin:u  OF  ANIMAL  IMUSTUY. 


Chi,/:   I>.   K.  SAI  MON,   1  •-   \'.   M. 

•  lout  <-liii/:   A.   l>.  MKIVIN.   I".   \  .  v. 

Chief  clerk:  K.  I'..  JONKS,  LL.  \!..  M.  l>. 

ED.    II.   Wrnsii  R,   M.  S..  rim  i  i:  I'..   LANE,   I'., 

chief. 

I,,.,,  \.  M.  FARRINGTON,  11.  s.,  |>.  \'.  M..  chief. 

KniivKi)  W.  HICKMAN.  I'h.  «...  V.  M.  I).,  chief. 
,,-:  <.i:oK(,i:   !•' \vr.m-:  THOMPSON.  M.  S. 
. I ,-tixt:   \V.  S.  D.  II  AINI>. 

Librarian:   I'.I:AIKH  i:  C.  <  >HKKI  Y. 

l.ABoKA  to|;i  !•>. 

Biochemic  Division:  MAKION   POIJSKT,  M.  !>.,  chief:  JAMES  A.  EMBRY,  acting 

ant  chief. 

l',itli"lni/'i,;il  Dlritio),:  JOHN   K.  Moin.KK.  A.  M..  Y.  M.  !>..  chief:   HEXKY  J. 
JH-UN,  1>.  \.  S..  acting  assistant  cliief. 

IDwistim:  BRAYTON  II.  RANSOM.  15.  Be.,  A.  M..  acting  zoologist. 

EX  I'ERI  M  KN  'I'    ST  A  T!  o  N  . 

Superintendent,  .K.  C'.  SCIIROEDEK,  ^1.  -!>•  V<}  expert  assistant,  W.  I-'..  COTTON. 

INSPECTORS    IN    CHARGE. 


I>r.  F.  W.  Ainsworth,  Union  Stock  YanK  1'itts- 

liu re.  I'M. 
Dr.  M.  l».  AiKlorsoii.  care  Gco.  A.  Hormel  &  Co., 

Austin.  Minn. 
Dr.   Don  C.   Ayer,    Post-Office    Boiloing, 

N  ebr. 
Dr.  <i.  S.   Makor,  Sixth  and  To\vnsund  Sfa 

Francisco.  Cal. 

Dr.  L.  R.  Baker,  Soiuli  St.  Joseph,  Mo. 
Dr.  Boyd  Baldwin,  car.'  ('uda)iy   Bros.,  Cudahy, 

Wi> 
Dr.  A.  E.  Behnko.  ro<Mn  loJ.  Federal  Building-, 

Milwaukee.  \VK 

Dr.  .lolm  A.  Hell.  Watrrtown,  X.  Y. 
Dr.    S.    F.    Bennett,  room   33S.    Live    Stock    Fx- 

Mire  Buildini:.  Kansas  City,  Kuns. 
Dr.  Eli  L.  Bertrnru.  cure  J.  S.  Gilmore,  Daren- 
Iowa. 
Dr.  Fred  Bragintori,  care  Continental  POCKII 

•iiiiKton.  111. 
Dr.  .1.  J.  Brougham,  care  Missouri  stock  Yard". 

Dr.  <;.  \V.  Butler,   care  Drummond  Bros 

\Vis. 

Dr.  .T.  B  Clancy.  National  stock  Yards,  111. 
I),-.  L:  Qniney  Building, 

'lo. 

Dr.  cii-  sburg,  N.  Y. 

Dr  Davi<l  CuininiiiK.  '.'TJ  Lapeerave.,  1'ort  Huron, 

Mich. 

Hardy.  San 

Dr.  K.  T.  DavUon.  Rusbville,  Xebr. 
Dr.  .1    F.  Deadniaii  ',;irie.  Mich. 

Mr.  AllxTt  Dean,  room 
Kansas  Citv.  Kuns. 


Dr.  F.  L.  De  \Voli,  care  Chav  \VoHT  Paeki- 

Tojifkn.  Ktms. 
Dr.  Geo.  Ditewig.  care  Union  Siuck  Yards 

cinnati,  <  >liio. 

i'.  Dow.l.  care  \Vhite,  P- 

NVori'ester.  Mass. 

Dr.  (>.   ]•:.  Dyson.  :jlf.  Exchange  Bu;' 
b  Yards  Chicago.  111. 
0    C,  Favill.-.   P.  i  i.  box  I'M'..  Norfoi 
Dr.  J.  \V.   Fink,  care   Sv 

tion.  Xewark.  X.  J. 
Dr.  T.   ' 

land. 
Dr     II    11.   G 

Ky. 
Dr.  \V.  II.  (iibbs.  care  Morton 

braska  City.  Xehr. 
Dr.  L.  K.  Green,  eare  Hammond,  Standish 

Detroit.  Mich. 

Dr.  H.  A.  Hedrick.  i21.">  St.  Paul  st.,  Baltimo 

'   Dr  o  B.  Hess, care  Frye-Bruhn  Co.,  Seattle 

Mr.  (i.  s.  Hickox.  P.  ().  box  11J5,  Salt  Lak 

rtah. 

Dr.  A.  A.  Holcoinhe.  Aurora.  111. 
Dr.  Julius  Hnelsen.  care  Jersey  <'in 

Co.,  Jersey  City.  X.  J. 
Dr.  F.  \v.  Huntington, -C.  S.  customs 

K.  K.  wharf.  Portland,  Me. 
Dr.    Rob.ii    Jay.  ,  E.    Decker 

Mason  City,  Iowa. 
Iii    (J.    A,  Johnson.   Exchange    Bu, 

Iowa. 
Dr.  James  Johnston,  can-  I*.  S.  consul.  Ln  • 

Wash. 


U.    S.    DEPARTMENT    OF   AGRICULTURE, 

BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY— BULLETIN  No.  07. 
D.  E.  SALMON,  D.  V.  M.,  CHIEF  OH  BUREAU. 


XECROTIC  STOMATITIS 


WITH   SPECIAL   REFERENCE   TO   ITS 
OCCURRENCE   IN 


CALVES   (CALF  DIPHTHERIA) 

AND 

PIGS  (SORE  MOUTH). 


JOHN  R.  MOHLER,  A.  MM  V.  M.  D., 

Chief  of  Pathological  Division,  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry. 


GEO.  BYRON  MORSE,  M.  D.,  V.  S., 
Assistant  in  Pathological  Division,  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE. 
1905. 


LETTER  OF  TRAXSMITTAL. 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

BUREAU  OF  A.VIMAL  INDUSTRY, 
Washington.,  I).  61,  February  1,  1905. 

SIR:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  manuscript  on  i;  Necro- 
tic  stomatitis,  with  special  reference  to  its  occurrence  in  calves 
(calf  diphtheria)  and  pigs  (sore  mouth),"  by  Dr.  John  R.  Mohler 
and  Dr.  Geo.  Byron  Morse,  both  of  the  Pathological  Division  of  this 
Bureau. 

It  is  definitely  known  that  this  disease  has  been  in  this  country  during 
the  last  three  or  four  years,  and  it  is  probable  that  it  has  been  pres- 
ent a  much  longer  time.  It  affects  calves,  pigs,  adult  cattle,  lambs, 
asses,  kangaroos,  rabbits,  dogs,  and  chickens,  but  in  this  country  it 
has  so  far  been  reported  for  calves  and  pigs  only.  The  percentage  of 
losses  varies  greatly,  but  it  is  always  large. 

I  recommend  that  this  manuscript  be  published  as  a  bulletin  of  the 
Bureau  series. 

Respectfully, 

D.  E.  SALMON, 

Chief  of  Bureau. 
Hon.  JAMES  WILSON, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Introduction 9 

Name  and  synonyms 9 

Definition 10 

Historical  review  and  geographical  distribution 10 

Etiology 12 

A.  Predisposing  conditions 12 

B.  Active  agent  (Bacillus  neerophanu) 12 

Bacteriology 12 

Name 12 

H  istory 12 

Morphology 13 

Motility : 13 

Staining 14 

Biology 15 

Plate  cultures -.    15 

Shake  cultures 16 

Stab  cultures 17 

Cultures  in  fluid  media 18 

Action  of  germicides 18 

Chemical  activities „_ 18 

Pigment  production 18 

Odor  production 18 

Production  of  substances  that  liquefy 18 

Indol  formation 19 

Production  of  curdling  ferments 19 

Production  of  toxins t 19 

Immunity 20 

Occurrence  in  nature 20 

Pathogenesis 21 

Under  natural  conditions 21 

Under  artificial  conditions 22 

Experiments  on  rabbits 22 

Subcutaneous  method 22 

Intravenous  method 24 

Experiments  on  mice 25 

Subcutaneous  inoculation 25 

Experiments  on  guinea  pigs 26 

Experiments  on  chickens 26 

Experiments  on  pigeons 26 

Experiments  on  calves 26 

Subcutaneous  inoculations 26 

Subcutaneous  and  intravenous  inoculation 28 

Intravenous  inoculations 28 

Experiments  on  sheep 29 

Subcutaneous  inoculations 29 

Experiments  on  pigs 29 

Subcutaneous  inoculations  ..  29 


6  CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Pathology 30 

Symptoms 32 

Course  and  termination 34 

Infective  character 34 

Susceptibility 36 

Economic  importance 37 

Differential  diagnosis 39 

Prognosis 46 

Treatment 40 

Prophylaxis 40 

Therapeutics 41 

Relation  of  animal  diphtherias  to  man 42 

Disposition  of  meat  of  affected  carcasses 42 

Conclusion  43 

Bibliography 44 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page. 
PLATE  1.  Necrotic  stomatitis  with  lesions  involving  tongue  and  cheek 16 

2.  Fig.  1. — Section  of  upper  lip  of  calf  showing  necrosis  bacilli.     Fig. 

2. — Section  of  liver  of  rabbit  showing  a  peripheral  area  of  caseatioii.         16 

3.  Section  of  lung  of  rabbit  showing  metastatic  foci 24 

4.  Section    of    lung  of    rabbit    showing    felted    network   of    Bacillus 

necrophorus 24 

5.  Fig.  1. — Bacillus  necrophorus  from  metastatic  focus  in  rabbit's  heart. 

Fig.  2. — Petri  dish    containing  characteristic  colonies  of  necrosis 
bacilli  .  24 


NECROTIC  STOMATITIS. 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  ITS  OCCURRENCE  IN  CALVES  (CALF 
DIPHTHERIA)  AND  PIGS  (SORE  MOUTH). 

By  JOHN  K.  MOIILER,  A.  M.,  V.  M.  I)., 
Chief  of  Pathological  Division,  Ihireau  of  Animal  Industry, 


GKO.  BYRON  MORSE,  M.  D.,  V.  S., 
Assistant  in  Pathological  Dir'wion,  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The  vestibular  character  of  the  mouth  in  its  relation  to  the  general 
organism  makes  any  disease  of  the  oral  cavity  an  important  matter. 
Mechanic,  chemic,  and  thermic  influences  ma}-  each  play  a  part  in  the 
production  of  various  disturbances  of  its  mucous  membrane,  but  the 
most  frequently  operative  of  all  causes — and  most  serious,  too— are 
the  microorganismal.  It  is  these  last  which  render  any  form  of  stoma- 
titis serious  and  constitute  the  real  source  of  danger  in  the  grave 
forms.  Not  the  least  interesting  in  this  last  group — and,  as  we  shall 
show,  of  considerable  economic  importance,  although  until  recent  years 
not  recognized  in  this  country — is  the  affection  to  which  we  have  given 
the  name  "necrotic  stomatitis."  Owning  similar  predisposing  condi- 
tions and  recognizing  a  common  etiologic  agent,  its  occurrence  has  been 
noted  in  calves,  pigs,  adult  cattle,  lambs,  asses,  kangaroos,  rabbits, 
dogs,  and  chickens.  In  this  countiy  it  has  been  reported  up  to  the 
present  time  only  among  calves  and  young  pigs,  being  probably  more 
prevalent  among  the  latter.  For  this  reason  and  because  our  investi- 
gations in  this  disease  have  been  limited  to  cases  occurring  in  these 
two  species  only,  the  following  pages  will  deal  with  necrotic  stomatitis 
of  calves  and  of  pigs. 

NAME  AND  SYNONYMS. 

Necrotic  stomatitis  of  calves  has  been  known  generally  under  the 

unfortunate  term  of  "calf   diphtheria."     Diphtheria  has  a   specific 

cause  (Klebs-Loffler  bacillus)  and  a  definite  histologic  picture,  both  of 

which  are  lacking  in  necrotic  stomatitis.     The  name  "  calf  diphtheria" 

18489— No.  67—05 2  9 


10  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

is  therefore  a  misnomer.  The  pathologic  process  in  necrotic  stoma- 
titis always  presents  the  picture  of  a  diphtheric  inflammation  plus  casea- 
tion — that  is  to  say,  an  inflammation  characterized  by  the  production  of 
a  membrane,  which,  as  an  essential  feature  of  the  disease  process, 
undergoes  cheesy  degeneration.  Since  this  progressive  necrosis  is 
caused  by  the  necrosis  bacillus,  the  origin  of  the  term  "  necrotic  stoma- 
titis" is  self-evident.  This  disease  in  calves  has  also  been  termed 
gangrenous  stomatitis,  ulcerative  stomatitis,  malignant  stomatitis, 
tubercular  stomatitis,  diphtheric  patches  of  the  oral  mucous  mem- 
brane, necrosis  diphtherica  caseosa,  stomatitis  diphtherica  multiplex, 
and  stomatitis  membranacea  diphtherica.  In  pigs  the  affection  has 
been  designated  ulcerative  stomatitis,  sore  mouth,  and  canker  of  the 
mouth. 

DEFINITION. 

Necrotic  stomatitis  is  an  acute,  specific,  highly  contagious  inflamma- 
tion of  the  mouth,  occurring  enzootically  in  many  species  of  animals 
and  characterized  locally  by  the  formation  of  ulcers  and  caseo-necrotic 
patches  and  by  constitutional  symptoms,  chiefly  toxic.  The  disease  is 
in  no  way  related  to  diphtheria  of  man. 

HISTORICAL  REVIEW  AND  GEOGRAPHICAL  DISTRIBUTION. 

During  the  last  few  years  farmers  and  cattlemen  of  this  country 
have  noted  the  increasing  occurrence  of  sore  mouth  among  the  young 
animals  of  their  herds.  Instead  of  healing  of  themselves,  as  the  usual 
forms  do,  these  cases,  if  untreated,  die.  Careful  study  of  some  of 
them  has  resulted  in  their  identification  with  cases  first  reported  by 
Dammann 9a  in  1876  from  the  shore  of  the  Baltic.  His  model  clinical 
investigations,  making  the  description  of  the  disease  suitable  for 
to-day,  and  his  accurate  postmortem  findings  were  marred  by  subjec- 
tion to  the  then  dominating  assertion  of  Eberth, ' '  without  micrococci  no 
diphtheria."  Finding  micrococci  everywhere  present  in  the  diseased 
tissues  of  the  mouth,  and  failing  to  recognize  the  fatal  results  in  his 
experimental  inoculations  as  due  to  septicemia,  Dammann  pronounced 
the  disease  identical  with  diphtheria  in  man.  To  what  extent  the 
malady  occurred  before  his  time  it  is  difficult  to  determine,  but  from 
the  fact  that  his  clinical  observations  were  soon  confirmed  by  a  number 
of  contemporary  veterinarians,  it  is  probable  that  at  the  time  of  his 
writing  it  was  not  very  uncommon.13  In  1878,  Blazekovic*5  gave  an 
extensive  report  of  sixteen  cases  (fourteen  fatal)  of  calf  diphtheria  in 
Slavonia,  and,  in  1879,  Vollers,66  adopting  Darnmann's  theory,  recorded 
four  cases  of  the  same  disease  in  Holstein.  Near  the  close  of  1880, 
Lenglen41  described  quite  accuratel}'  the  local  manifestation  and  gen- 

«The  figures  refer  to  the  bibliography  at  the  end  of  this  bulletin. 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  11 

eral  symptoms  of  the  disease  as  noted  by  him  in  a  series  of  ten  cases 
in  the  northern  part  of  France.  Under  the  title  of  gangrene  of  the 
mouth  in  young  calves,  he  identified  the  disease  with  gangrenous 
stomatitis,  or  noma,  in  children,  and,  as  predisposing  causes,  associated 
the  eruption  of  the  teeth  with  bad  sanitary  and  dietetic  conditions. 
His  article  attracted  the  attention  of  MacGillivray,****  -of  Banff,  Scot- 
land, who  published  several  articles  during  1881-82,  describing  his 
experiences  with  the  same  disease,  and  asserting  that  it  was  a  tuber- 
cular stomatitis  rather  than  diphtheritis,  or  gangrenous  stomatitis. 
During  these  two  years  there  entered  into  the  controversy  thus  started 
in  the  Veterinary  Journal  and  the  Veterinarian,  the  following  persons 
with  reports  of  their  own  cases:  Campbell,6  Cole,8  Fleming,16  Gunn,25 
James,28  Metherell,51  Smith,63  and  Steel.64  In  1884,  L^ffler42  isolated 
and  described  the  bacillus  of  human  diphtheria,  thus  destroying  all 
previous  theories  as  to  the  cause  and  relation  of  micrococci  with  that 
disease.  Pursuing  similar  investigations,  he  the  same  year  isolated 
from  diseased  tissues  in  cases  of  so-called  calf  diphtheria  a  long  slender 
thread-like  bacterium,  which  he  described  and  demonstrated  as  the  cause 
of  this  affection.  Loffler  thus  proved  diphtheria  of  man  absolutely 
distinct  etiologically  from  that  disease,  so  called,  in  calves.  In  1903, 
Mettam 52  observed  this,  affection  in  Ireland  in  the  calves  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Munster  and  in  Dublin,  while  McFadyean 45  has  mentioned  his 
familiarity  with  its  prevalence  for  some  years  in  various  sections  of 
England.  We  have  no  exact  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  the  disease 
in  this  country  prior  to  1897,  when  it  was  recognized  by  one  of  us  in 
southwestern  Texas.  It  was  later  observed  in  rather  serious  outbreaks 
in  1902  and  1903  in  Colorado,  Wyoming,  and  South  Dakota. 

Bang,1  in  his  notable  work  on  the  necrosis  bacillus,  was  the  first 
to  announce  this  parasite's  causative  relation  to  the  deep  necroses 
often  affecting  the  mouths  of  hogs.  However,  Johne,32  in  his 
pathological  reports  for  1890,  seems  to  have  recognized  the  disease  in 
pigs,  although  it  was  not  until  1893  that  Schlegel,59  working  in  con- 
junction with  Johne,33  proved  the  relationship  of  the  Bacillus  necroplc- 
orus  to  diphtheric  inflammation  of  the  tonsils,  pharynx,  and  laiynx 
in  hogs.  Kitt35  was  also  able  to  recover  the  causative  agent  of  this 
disease  from  the  diphtheric  lesions  of  the  larynx  and  pharynx  of  calves 
and  pigs  in  1893.  In  1903,  Lauritsen40  described  a  necrotic  inflam- 
mation of  the  mouth  in  young  pigs,  believing,  though  not  demonstra- 
ting, Bacillus  necrophoms  to  be  the  cause. 

The  outbreaks  of  this  disease  in  pigs,  which  we  were  enabled  to 
stud}r,  appeared  in  an  enzootic  form  in  western  Tennessee,  and,  at  the 
Athenia  quarantine  station,  among  a  herd  of  young  Berkshire  hogs 
recently  imported,  from  which  cases  the  Bacillus  necrophorus  was 
recovered. 


12  BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 

ETIOLOGY. 

Necrotic  stomatitis  is  due  to  a  specific-  infection.  It  is  sin  inocula- 
tion disease  and  occurs  as  a  result  of  the  already  abraded  lining  mem- 
brane of  some  part  of  the  oral  cavity  being  invaded  by  the  Bacillus 
necrophorus. 

A.  — PREDISPOSING    CONDITION'S. 

These  prepare  the  nidus  for  the  active  agent.  The  necrosis  bacillus 
will  not  develop  on  a  normal  mucous  membrane;  its  invasion  is  always 
secondary.  Opportunity  for  infection  of  the  mouth  is  afforded  by 
a  catarrhal  inflammation  of  its  lining,  by  a  break  in  the  integrity  of 
its  protective  covering,  or  by  the  role  played  by  the  bacterial  flora 
of  the  mouth  in  damaging  its  cells  and  tissues.  Here  may  be  men- 
tioned, also,  irritant  foods,  rough  forage,  very  hot  or  very  cold  drink- 
ing water,  chronic  and  debilitating  diseases,  and  damp,  unsanitary 
pens.  Furthermore,  as  will  be  pointed  out  later,  some  predisposition 
appears  necessary  for  the  development  of  necrotic  stomatitis.  In  part, 
this  is  individual,  for  whereas  the  disease  is  distinctly  one  of  young 
animals,  some  of  these  are  more  highly  susceptible  than  others. 

B. — ACTIVE  AGENT  (BACILLUS  NECROPHOKUS). 
BACTERIOLOGY.  " 


This  organism  has  been  variously  known  as  Bacillus  der  Kalber- 
diphtherie  (Loffler),48  1884;  Bacillus  dij>htheri&  vitulorurn  (Ldffler)18; 
Bacillus  necrophoms  (Flugge),18  1886;  Bacillits  Jiliformis  (Schiitz),*1 
1887;  Nekrosebacillus  (Bang),1 1890;  Streptothrix  cuniculi  (Schmorl),** 
1891;  A  (tiirwmyces  cuniculi  (Gasperua),"  189%',  Bacillus  necroxeos  (Salo- 
monsen),58  189-1;  Bacillus  des  Kalbernoma  (Ritter),57  1895;  and  Strep- 
tothrix  necrophora  (Kitt),34  1899. 

Until  authors  are  more  agreed  as  to  the  possession  by  this  organism 
of  the  character  of  branching,  a  feature  not  observed  during  the  course 
of  our  investigations,  it  will  be  well  to  consider  it  as  belonging  to  the 
Bacteriaceae  and  allow  priority  to  designate  it  Bacillus  necrophorus 
(Flugge). 

HISTORY. 

First  observed  by  Koch,86  it  was  not  isolated  and  described  until 
Loffler,  in  1884,  demonstrated  it  as  the  cause  of  the  disease  erroneously 
called  by  Dammann*  calf  diphtheria.  It  remained  for  Bang  to  recog- 

"It  is  with  pleasure  that  we  acknowledge  our  indebtedness  to  Dr.  B.  Bang  and  Dr. 
W.  Ernst  for  sending  us  cultures  of  Bacillus  nccrophorva  with  which  to  compare  our 
organism. 

&  Without  doubt  Dammann,  on  page  12  of  his  article,  in  his  description  of  the 
tangled  network  of  fibrin  threads  in  the  deeper  layers  of  the  pseudomembranouss 
deposits,  really  refers  to  the  filaments  of  Bacillus  necrophorus. 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  13 

nize  its  varied  activities  in  the  production  of  coagulation  necrosis  and 
describe  it  as  the  Nekrosebacillus.  A  year  later  Schmorl  made  public 
his  careful  investigations  of  a  spontaneous  rabbit  disease  in  his  labora- 
tory, resulting  in  the  recovery  of  this  same  organism  which  he,  either 
not  knowing  of  Loffler's  and  Bang's  labors  or  failing  to  identify  his 
organism  with  theirs,  called  Streptothrix  cuniculi.  Since  then  numer- 
ous investigators  have  confirmed  the  work  of  the  foregoing  scientists 
and  demonstrated  a  still  wider  sphere  of  pathogenic  relationship,  the 
latest  being  the  proof  furnished  by  this  laboratory  of  the  etiologic  con- 
nection of  Bacillux  necropJwrus  with  foot-rot  in  sheep.  The  morpho- 
logic and  biologic  characters  have  been  quite  thoroughly  worked  out 
by  Bang,  Schmorl,  and  Ernst. 


MOHI'HOUHJY. 


Bacillm  necrophoru*  is  essentially  a  pleomorphic  organism.  It 
varies,  according  to  nutrient  soil  and  age  of  culture,  from  coccoid 
forms  to  filaments  over  100/*  in  length  and  from  0.75  to  1.5/^  in  width. 
The  longer  forms  appear  as  slender,  undulating,  beaded  filaments. 
Generally,  in  the  tissues  these  threads  are  matted  together  into  an 
intricate  network,  like  a  mass  of  hair  or  even  the  more  compact  felt. 
The  same  appearance  may  be  found  in  colonies.  Frequently  the  fila- 
mentous forms  present  one  wide  or  clubbed  extremity,  with  the  other 
extremity  tapering.  On  the  other  hand,  the  older  cultures — either 
animal  tissues  or  artificial  media — exhibit  almost  exclusively  bacillary 
forms  of  various  lengths,  some  so  short  as  to  be  easil}T  mistaken  for 
cocci.  Involution  forms  ma}T  be  present  in  any  culture,  but  certain 
media,  notably  that  composed  of  a  mixture  of  agar,  gelatin,  bouillon, 
peptone,  and  salt  are  particularly  favorable  to  their  development. 

Motility. — Motion  has  not  been  observed  in  our  experiments;  in 
fact,  it  has  been  reported  by  Schmorl  only.  He  examined  the  pleural 
exudate  in  hanging  drop.  He  says: 

The  shorter  bacillus-shaped  forms  are  mostly  motile;  they  travel  slowly  through 
the  visual  field  with  a  serpentine,  or  crawling,  motion,  but  generally  come  very 
quickly  to  rest.  The  longer  threads  are  for  the  most  part  absolutely  motionless;  only 
in  the  entirely  detached  forms  does  one  notice  pendulous  movements  being  slowly 
executed.  The  signs  of  motility  can  be  demonstrated  only  when  the  material  for 
observation  has  been  taken  from  an  animal  just  killed  or  just  dead.  If  it  hag  l>een 
dead  a  .longer  time,  one  finds  rods  and  threads  altogether  in  the  resting  condition, 
from  which  they  can  sometimes  be  aroused  by  making  the  observation  on  a  warm 
stage  in  a  vacuum.  Most  of  the  rather  thin  and  pale  threads  possess  a  character- 
istically stiff  appearance.  They  float  along  sometimes  completely  extended;  at 
other  times  they  exhibit  slight  winding  motion.  But  very  seldom  does  one  find 
specimens  which  appear  spirally  twisted. 

Over  against  this  statement  of  Schmorl  may  be  placed  that  of  Ernst: u 

The  merely  feeble,  oscillating,  molecular  movements  of  the  rods  and  the  pendulous, 
serpentine  movement  of  long,  undulating  threads  in  changes  of  position,  according  to 


14  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

the  law  of  gravity,  permit  no  positive  decision  as  to  motility.  In  order  to  exainin? 
the  bacteria  as  to  their  motility  I  employed  cultures;  and  since  young,  36-hour,  cul- 
tures in  the  hanging  drop  showed  no  active  change  of  place  l>eside  the  ordinary  molec- 
ular motion,  and  furthermore,  since  in  the  employment  of  material  from  cultures 
whose  growth  was  just  becoming  visible  (24-36  hours),  flagel la  were  not  demonstrate*  1 
by  mordants  which  gave  good  results  in  control  experiments  with  edema  and  cadaver 
bacilli  as  well  as  colon  forms,  a  denial  of  motility  would  appear  perfectly  just. 

In  this  laboratory  the  examination  for  motility  was  made  with  fresh 
cultures  and  with  tissue  from  animals  within  one  hour  after  death, 
both  by  means  of  hanging  drop  and  by  the  application  of  flagella  stains. 
In  no  case  was  it  possible  to  claim  motion  for  these  bacilli. 

Staining. — The  necrosis  bacillus  stains  readily  with  the  ordinaiy 
aniline  dyes,  Loffler's  methylene  blue,  and  Ziehl's  carbol-fuchsin,  pro- 
ducing particularly  good  effects.  Alkaline  toluidine  blue  (1  per  cent 
solution),  while  not  giving  the  brilliant  effects  of  fuchsin,  makes 
perhaps  the  best  reagent  for  routine  use.  The  slide,  or  cover  slip, 
dipped  in  the  stain,  immediately  washed  in  water  and  mounted,  is  a 
very  rapid  and  satisfactory  method  of  bringing  out  the  beaded  appear- 
ance of  the  organism. 

In  the  study  of  fresh  tissue  smears,  it  is  usually  sufficient  to  make  a 
film  on  a  slide  with  a  teased  particle  of  the  suspected  tissue,  and,  after 
the  usual  preliminaries,  stain  with  one  of  the  ordinary  dyes  mentioned, 
preferably  methylene  blue  or  toluidine  blue.  Whenever  it  was  desired 
to  employ  differential  staining,  we  found  the  following  procedure  to 
answer  all  requirements:  The  stains  are  kept  read}'  for  use  in  wide- 
mouthed  bottles.  Prepare  the  film  on  the  slide  in  the  usual  manner, 
fix  in  the  flame,  dip  it  from  two  to  five  seconds  in  a  1  per  cent  alka- 
line toluidine  blue,  wash  it  thoroughly  in  water,  counterstain  it  in  a 
0.2  per  cent  Neisser's  Vesuvian  brown,  wash  it  in  water,  dry,  and  then 
mount  it  in  balsam. 

An  excellent  method  of  double  staining  was  devised  for  Bacillus 
nect*ophorus  by  Bang.  Bits  of  the  necrosed  tissue  were  hardened  in 
Muller's  fluid,  thoroughly  washed,  and  further  hardened  in  alcohol. 
(Alcohol  alone  he  did  not  find  suitable.)  The  sections  are  placed  a  few 
minutes  in  toluidin-safranin  (produced  like  aniline-gentian  violet), 
dehydrated  by  means  of  an  alcoholic  solution  of  safranin;  after  this, 
fluorescin  clove  oil,  pure  clove  oil,  alcohol,  watery  methyl  green, 
alcohol,  xylene,  balsam.  The  bacilli  are  stained  a  beautiful  red,  while 
the  tissue  is  stained  green;  no  other  investigated  bacteria  can  stain  in 
this  manner. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  beaded  appearance  of  the  Bacillus 
necropJiorus  in  stained  preparations.  This  is  noticeable  equally  in  tissue 
smears  or  sections  and  in  films  from  cultures.  The  longer  rods  and 
threads  particular!}*  exhibit  this  characteristic.  It  is  due  to  the  occur- 
rence in  the  filaments  of  unstained  spaces  which  were  at  first  thought 
to  be  spores.  Spore-staining  methods,  however,  do  not  alter  them. 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  ID 

Careful  study  of  this  peculiarity  reveals  several  phases  of  it.  Some- 
times a  thread  will  be  most  regularly  marked  off  into  alternate  sections 
of  stained  and  unstained  material;  again,  decided  irregularity  charac- 
terizes the  arrangement — long  vacuole-like  inclusions  alternating  with 
shorter  stained  squares  or  bacillus-like  spaces  of  stained  material  may 
alternate  with  shorter  colorless  portions;  again,  the  vacuoles  may 
appear  like  a  chain  of  colorless  rods  lying  on  a  ribbon  of  blue  or  what- 
ever color  may  be  used  for  the  stain.  Sometimes  the  stained  material 
is  so  little  in  quantit}'  that  the  thread  seems  like  a  string  of  spores, 
oval  or  rod  shaped,  with  thin,  deeply  stained  partitions  between  them. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  filament  presents  itself  as  an  unstained  tube 
with  a  regular  succession  of  deeply  stained  coccus-like  granules  much 
resembling  streptococci,  or  these  granules  may  be  alternately  arranged 
alono-  the  sides  of  the  tube. 


Cultivation  of  the  Bacillus  necrophorus  is  not  easy.  It  is  an  abso- 
lute anaerobe.  Investigators  differ  concerning  its  requirements  as  to 
temperature.  Nocard  and  Leclainche53  give  30°  to  40°  C.  as  the 
limits  of  growth,  with  the  optimum  at  3~7°  C. ;  Jensen  adopts  the  same 
extremes,  but  places  the  optimum  at  34°  C. ;  whereas,  according  to 
Ernst,  development  occurs  only  between  36°  and  40°  C.,  and  the  opti- 
mum is  39°.  Our  own  investigations  have  shown  that  30°  to  40°  C. 
represent  the  extremes  of  temperature  at  which  the  ordinary  work  of 
the  laboratory  may  be  satisfactorily  carried  on;  nevertheless,  we  have 
on  different  occasions  been  able  at  28°  C.  to  grow  in  agar-bouillon 
shakes  typical  colonies,  which  responded  to  the  usual  tests  of  mor- 
phology, odor,  and  pathogenesis.  With  us  the  optimum  was  35°  C. 

The  usual  culture  media  of  the  laboratory  are  either  unsatisfactory 
or  altogether  inimical  to  the  development  of  the  necrosis  bacillus. 
Agar-agar  was  often  employed  with  only  passable  results,  but  more 
satisfaction •  was  obtained  from  the  following  combinations:  Agar- 
bouillon  (A-B);  agar-gelatin  (A-G);  serum-agar  (S-A);  serum-agar- 
gelatin  (S-A-G);  and  two  suggested  by  Ernst — 1.5  per  cent  agar  in  a 
peptone-salt-bouillon  (A-B-P-S)  and  0.7  per  cent  agar  and  7  per  cent 
gelatin  in  bouillon  with  5  per  cent  peptone  and  2.5  per  cent  salt 
(A-G-B-P-,S).  The  first  four  mixtures  were  usually  prepared  in  the 
proportions  of  equal  parts,  although  other  proportions  were  adopted 
for  the  purpose  of  varying  the  consistence  of  the  medium.  Fluid 
blood  serum,  milk,  rabbit  bouillon,  and  Martin's  bouillon  were  also 
employed. 

PLATE  CULTURES. 

Bouillon  agar. — Great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  getting  the 
organism  to  develop  colonies  in  Petri  dishes.  Numerous  attempts 
were  made  by  displacing  air  with  hydrogen  in  a  hydrogen  jar,  and  by 


16  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

the  formation  of  a  vacuum.  by  withdrawing  the  air  under  a  bell  jar  by 
means  of  a  vacuum  pump,  but  success  was  not  attained  in  an}'  instance. 
Recently  it  was  endeavored  to  grow  the  organism  in  Petri  dishes  placed 
in  a  closed  jar  containing  a  solution  of  pyrogallic  acid  rendered  alka- 
line by  sodium  1ml  rate.  This  method,  which  permitted  the  presence 
of  only  the  inert  nitrogen  gas,  finally  resulted  in  characteristic  colo- 
nies occurring  throughout  the  medium  with  the  formation  of  numerous 
gas  bubbles.  Several  of  these  colonies  in  the  dish  of  the  second  dilu- 
tion (pi.  a,  tig.  2)  grew  so  close  to  the  surface  that  some  filaments 
extended  to  the  upper  stratum,  and  could  be  removed  by  means  of  a 
platinum  needle.  In  about  forty-eight  hours  after  exposing  the  plates 
to  this  method,  small,  pinhead-sized,  dirty-white,  opaque,  round  colo- 
nies, possessing  no  distinctive  features,  were  visible  to  the  unaided  eye 
below  the  surface.  Many  small  round  or  oval  gas  bubbles  could  also  be 
observed.  By  means  of  a  small  magnifying  glass  these  colonies  were' 
seen  to  possess  a  yellowish-brown  center  surrounded  by  a  thin,  light, 
almost  translucent  border,  which,  under  the  microscope,  appeared 
floceose.  After  three  days  the  colony  presented  to  the  naked  eye  a 
woolly  appearance,  and  the  microscope  now  revealed  the  central  struc- 
ture as  a  felted  maze  of  threads  and  the  floccose  character  of  the  border 
as  long,  wavy  filaments. 

SHAKE 


Agar-bouitton,  —  In  eighteen  to  twenty-four  hours  after  inoculating 
a  tube  either  from  necrosed  tissue  or  from  a  colon}'  in  another  tube, 
or  with  a  loopful  from  the  depths  of  a  pure  .Martin's  bouillon  culture, 

DESCRIPTION  OF  PLATE  1. 

Tongue  anil  cheek  of  calf  showing  lesions  of  necrotic  stomatitis  as  a  result  of  natu- 
ral infection.  Notice  the  zone  of  thickened  granulated  tissue  surrounding  the  dry, 
cheeky,  grayish-yellow  areas  of  necrosis  both  in  the  tongue  and  cheek. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  PLATE  2. 

FIG.  1.  —  Section  of  the  upper  lip  showing  the  necrosis  bacilli  in  their  special  role 
of  producing  a  deeply  penetrating  necrosis.  The  cuticular  layer  has  suffered  com- 
plete coagulation  necrosis  and  ca^eation.  The  drawing  depicts  the  bacilli  in  the  act 
of  carrying  the  necrosis  down  between  the  papilla?.  Lodged  in  the  interpapillary 
epithelium  they  have  completely  destroyed  the  portion  where  they  lie  and  have 
exerted  their  toxic  influence  on  the  cells  to  the  left.  To  the  right  is  a  section  of  a 
papilla  whose  suprapapillary  layer  of  epithelium  has  been  destroyed  next  the  baril- 
lary  mass  preparatory  to  the  attack  on  the  connective  tissue  framework  of  the  papilla. 
Stained  with  methylene  blue  and  eosin.  Magnified  about  640  diameters. 

TIG.  2.  —  Section  of  liver  of  rabbit  No.  1183,  inoculated  with  an  emulsion  of  necrosed 
tissue  obtained  from  rabbit  No.  1166,  which  had  been  inoculated  with  material  from 
a  pig  affected  with  necrotic  stomatitis.  The  periphereal  area  of  caseation  delimited 
by  the  well-defined  line  of  demarcation  is  the  result  of  the  extension  of  the  necrosis 
by  contiguity  of  structure  as  the  abdominal  wall  at  this  point  was  adherent  to  the 
capsule  of  Glisson  by  a  plastic  exudate.  No  other  areas  of  necrosis  were  observed  in 
the  liver.  Stained  by  hematoxylin  and  eosin,  and  magnified  about  22  diameters. 


Bulletin  No.  67,  B.  A. 


PLATE  1. 


NECROTIC  STOMATITIS   WITH  LESIONS  INVOLVING  TONGUE  AND  CHEEK. 


Haines  del 


Bulletin  No.  67,  B.  A.  I. 


PLATE  2. 


3*.-       *<*Z*>**.  ••    V.  ^   ••*•; r'-»-       •-."•' si*  '\-^t    ~  •-    "     ?**,**>£,#•* 

•  x%_  -^->i,'^       ///>^<  -:; :.  ***&&!* 
fifc  ^^  ;W '  ^biJw'^^lIlP 

l|W;Si'^f^» 
iSfeillfeW 

:4p««,g^ 

•A/.*'   .      \!      'liH    •  iM       V      •'-??:  c'        4 '  •"     a'"J/ 

f M  ^^ .' AV%--- :      '*$$r 
FIG.  1— SECTION  OF  UPPER  LIP  OF  CALF  SHOWING  NECROSIS  BACILLI. 


FIG.  2.— SECTION  OF  LIVER  OF  RABBIT  SHOWING  A  PERIPHERAL  AREA  OF  CASEATION. 


Haines  del 


NECEOTIC    STOMATITIS.  17 

the  tube  is  studded  with  small  oval  gas  bubbles.  At  this  time,  also, 
rarely  with  the  A-B  medium,  frequently  with  the  softer  forms,  as 
S-A-G,  A-G  (2:1),  A-B-P-S,  and  A-G-B-P-S,  the  column  of  culture 
medium  will  be  transversely  ruptured  in  one,  two,  or  more  places  by 
the  pressure  of  the  gas.  In  forty-eight  hours  these  sections  will  often 
be  separated  2  to  5  mm.  and  even  more  from  each  other.  We  have 
sometimes  seen  this  gas  formation  go  on  for  the  next  two  days,  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  raise  the  upper  portion  of  the  medium  2  cm.  The 
dilution  from  the  above-described  tube — tube  2 — would  often  follow 
tube  1  quite  closely  in  the  quantity  of  gas  bubbles  formed,  though  not 
in  the  breaking  up  of  the  medium.  Tubes  3  and  4  would  usually 
show  a  great  diminution  in  the  quantity  of  gas  bubbles  and  no  break- 
ing up  of  the  medium. 

In  the  development  of  the  growth,  our  experience  tallied  quite 
closely  in  a  few  notable  points  with  that  of  Ernst.  For  instance, 
shakes  sown  with  necrosed  material  would  often  show,  after  thirty-six 
to  forty -eight  hours,  a  tine  grayish  white  mist  of  cloudiness  at  the  lower 
portion  of  the  tube.  In  our  experience,  even  with  slight  magnifica- 
tion, it  was  possible  to  detect  no  particular  structure.  A  film  made 
from  this  portion  of  the  culture  medium  would  always  show  beaded 
forms.  Again,  when  the  medium  used  was  jelly-like  in  consistence, 
the  unabsorbed  gas,  instead  of  remaining  as  bubbles  at  the  point  formed, 
would  gradually  float  upward  toward  the  surface.  The  original  seat 
of  these  bubbles  and  the  pathways  along  which  they  had  risen  would 
be  coated  with  a  fine  bacterial  growth.  Thus  would  be  formed 
numerous  filmy  ribbons,  extending  from  near  the  surface  down  into 
the  depths  of  the  tube,  where  they  would  be  anchored  by  a  crescent- 
shaped  body.  The  time  and  rate  of  growth  and  appearance  of  colonies 
in  the  tube  are  sufficiently  described  in  the  description  of  the  plates. 

STAB  CULTURES. 

Agar-agar. — Near  the  close  of  the  second  day  a  few  grayish-white 
colonies  make  their  appearance  at  the  bottom  of  the  needle  track. 
Gradually  these  increase  from  below  upward  to  within  1-1.5  cm.  of 
the  top  of  the  stab  canal.  Thus  is  formed  a  thin,  narrow,  opaque, 
3rellowish  or  grayish  white  line  of  growth  surrounded  by  a  thin  whit- 
ish cloud,  which  on  slight  magnification  is  seen  to  be  composed  of 
minute  wavy  threads. 

Along  the  needle  track,  and,  if  the  medium  is  not  too  hard  when 
inoculated,  throughout  the  culture  may  be  seen  numerous  round  and 
oval  gas  bubbles. 

Serwn-agar. — Time  and  height  of  bacterial  growth  and  gas  forma- 
tion are  like  the  preceding.  At  times  the  needle  track  is  the  center  of 
a  whitish  film  or  merely  a  thin  line  of  cloudiness  of  the  medium; 
18489— No.  67—05 3 


18  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

again,  the  growth  may  be  denser,  similar  to  that  described  for  agar- 
agar.  The  serum  is  never  liquefied,  although  in  very  old  cultures  it 
will  be  natural  that  the  zone  of  cloudiness  referred  to  has  spread 
nearly  to  the  walls  of  the  tube. 

CULTURES  IN  FLUID  MEDIA. 

Bouillon. — The  organism  can  be  grown  in  ordinary  peptonized 
beef  broth,  rabbit  bouillon,  and  in  Martin's  broth,  the  maximum 
development  occurring  at  the  temperature  of  35°  C.  in  a  hydrogen 
jar.  The  bouillon  becomes  turbid  with  the  formation  of  some  gas 
which  is  noticeable  by  the  surface  bubbles.  Later  the  bacillary  masses 
sink  to  the  bottom  in  the  form  of  whitish  viscid  flakes,  causing  the 
fluid  to  become  clearer.  The  cultures  have  a  peculiar  odor,  very  char- 
acteristic, which  will  be  referred  to  later.  There  is  no  film  formation, 
but  a  tendency  to  develop  a  ring  around  the  border  of  the  medium  has 
been  observed.  (See  "Milk"  and  "Fluid  serum,"  on  next  page.) 

ACTION  OF  GERMICIDES. 

In  determining  the  germicidal  power  of  disinfectants  a  measured 
volume  of  a  forty-eight-hour  bouillon  culture  of  the  necrosis  bacillus 
was  intimately  mixed  with  an  equal  volume  of  the  disinfecting  solution, 
thereby  reducing  the  strength  of  the  germicide  to  one-half.  Three 
platinum-wire  loopfuls  were  then  transferred  to  fresh  rabbit  bouillon 
tubes  after  varying  periods  of  exposure.  After  an  exposure  of  1 
minute  in  a  2  per  cent  solution  of  carbolic  acid  the  bouillon  tubes 
showed  growth,  but  in  the  tube  representing  a  two-minute  exposure 
no  development  occurred.  With  bichloride  of  mercury  an  exposure  of 
nine  minutes  to  a  ^oVu  solution  prevented  growth.  Formalin  in  the 
strength  of  2£  per  cent  solution  (1  per  cent  formaldehyde)  killed  the 
organism  in  thirteen  minutes. 

CHEMICAL  ACTIVITIES. 
PIGMENT  PRODUCTION. 

Chromogenesis  is  wanting. 

ODOK  PRODUCTION. 

All  cultures  develop  a  substance  or  substances  which  evolve  an  odor 
well  described  by  Ernst  as  between  the  odor  of  cheese  and  that  of  glue. 
The  stench  is  so  characteristic  that  the  presence  of  the  bacillus  is 
recognized  at  once  in  the  tissues  of  either  natural  or  experimental 
infection  as  well  as  in  cultures  on  artificial  media. 

PRODUCTION  OF  SUBSTANCES  THAT   LIQUEFY. 

Gelatin  is  not  liquefied.  The  growth  of  the  bacillus  is  likewise 
without  effect  on  hardened  blood  serum. 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  19 


INDOI,    FORMATION. 


Inclol  is  formed  and  may  be  demonstrated  in  three-days-old  cultures 
made  in  Martin's  bouillon. 


PRODVfTIOX   OF   CVRDLIXG    FERMENTS. 


Milk  is   not  coagulated   nor  is   acid  produced.     Fluid   serum    is 
coagulated. 


I'UOIH'CTION  OF  TOXINS. 


That  the  necrosis  bacillus  produces  a  toxin  is  evidenced,  not  by  the 
isolation  of  the  same  from  artificial  cultures,  but  by  (1)  the  character 
of  death  in  the  disease,  (2)  the  quality  of  the  rigor  mortis,  and  (3)  the 
study  of  the  pathologic  histology. 

The  toxic  character  of  death  is  not  particularly  noticed  in  animals 
suffering  from  stomatitis  when  inappetency  and  inability  to  take 
nourishment  have  produced  an  enfeebled  condition.  Nor,  again,  is  it 
noticeable  in  those  animals  which  die  with  embolic  foci  in  liver  or 
lungs,  the  symptoms  arising  from  the  diseased  organs  often  masking 
the  signs  of  intoxication.  However,  rabbits  inoculated  subcutaneously 
in  the  back  will  persist,  without  an}-  other  sign  of  the  disease  except 
the  abscess,  for  about  five  or  six  days.  Suddenly,  on  the  sixth  or 
seventh  day,  without  any  premonitory  signs,  the  rabbit  will  be  thrown 
into  convulsions,  coming  out  of  one  to  lie  with  its  head  turned  side- 
ways and  buried  in  the  bottom  of  the  cage  until  another  attack,  dying 
usually  in  a  few  hours  after  the  first  convulsion.  Quite  often  in  these 
cases  the  local  lesions  will  not  be  sufficient  to  directh'  produce  death, 
not  being  very  extensive,  and  not  involving  any  important  organ. 
Such  a  course  as  this  points  unmistakably  to  a  toxinemia  which  has 
attacked  the  nervous  system. 

The  limits  of  this  article  do  not  permit  a  discussion  of  the  factors 
entering  into  the  production  of  cadaveric  rigidit}-.  For  our  present 
purpose  it  is  sufficient  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  intensity 
and  long  duration  of  the  rigor  mortis  observed  in  the  experiment  ani- 
mals and  described  later  in  this  paper  comports  perfectly  with  the 
well-known  fact  that  the  presence  of  toxins  in  the  blood  promotes 
muscular  rigidit}'. 

It  may  be  stated  with  positiveness  that  Bacillus  newop/iorits  does 
not  enter  an  unimpaired  tissue.  Most,  if  not  all,  of  its  infections  with 
which  we  are  acquainted  require  for  their  inception  a  break  in  the  con- 
tinuity either  of  mucous  membrane  or  skin.  A  histologic  study  of  an 
affected  area,  elsewhere  examined  in  greater  detail,  reveals  a  center  of 
completely  destroyed  tissue  marked  by  an  entire  absence  of  the  spe- 
cific bacteria  in  question.  The  boundary  of  this  dead  area  is  formed 
by  great  bundles  of  filaments  of  BaciUus  necrophorus,  large  numbers 
of  leucocytes,  and  a  fair  sprinkling  of  tissue  cells  whose  nuclei  still 


20  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

respond  to  stains.  The  immediately  adjoining1  border  of  surrounding 
healthy  tissue  is  seen  when  carefully  examined  to  possess  numerous 
cells  whose  protoplasm  has  been  more  or  less  destroyed,  and  in  among 
these  dying  cells  a  few  scattered  filaments  have  advanced  like  skirmish- 
ing parties  before  the  main  army.  It  is  a  true  picture  of  a  bacillary 
invasion  of  tissue  begun  by  means  of  the  noxious  effects  of  a  soluble 
toxin. 

Thus  far  all  attempts  to  recover  the  toxic  substance  either  from  cul- 
tures or  the  bacilli  themselves  have  failed.  From  this,  Jensen, ?1  whose 
assistant,  L.  Bahr,  has  made  the  only  experiments  thus  far  recorded, 
assumes  that  either  the  necrosis  bacillus  forms  these  substances  only 
in  the  living  animal  or  they  are  of  such  volatile  character  that  they 
are  destroyed  as  quickly  as  they  are  formed. 


IMMUNITY. 


The  literature  of  Bacillus*  necrophorus  has  contained  no  word  on 
acquired  immunity  until  the  article  by  C.  O.  Jensen31  referred  to  above. 
This  eminent  investigator  and  early  worker  with  the  necrosis  bacillus 
states  that  his  assistant,  Bahr,  has  demonstrated  by  experiments  not 
yet  published  that  intravenous  injections  of  cultures  of  the  Bacillus 
necrophorus  carefully  given  to  goats  protect  them  from  quite  large 
quantities  of  the  same  given  subcutaneously.  Jensen  further  states 
that  Bahr  has  produced  in  the  same  manner  an  immunity  in  guinea 
pigs  from  intraperitoneal  injections.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  most 
investigators  pronounce  the  guinea  pig  almost  if  not  quite  absolutely 
immune,  the  statement  needs  further  elucidation.  On  the  contrary, 
while  we  are  not  willing  yet  to  build  any  hypothesis  upon  it,  we  find 
that  our  reinoculation  experiments  have  given  us  the  impression  that 
susceptibility  is  increased  thereby  rather  than  diminished. 

OCCURRENCE  IN  NATURE. 

There  is  hardly  room  to  doubt  that  the  Bacillus  necrophcrus  is  a 
normal  inhabitant  of  the  healthy  intestine  of  at  least  one  species  of 
our  domestic  animals — hogs — and  possibly  of  the  cow  and  horse.  It 
is  also  found  in  the  manure,  and  therefore  in  soil  contaminated  with 
the  latter.  Bang's2  discovery  of  the  association  of  the  organism  with 
the  necrotic  processes  in  the  intestine  in  hog  cholera,  and  also  as  cause 
of  an  intestinal  diphtheritis  in  calves  secondary  to  an  intestinal  catarrh1 
seemed  to  require  the  intestine  as  the  normal  habitat  of  the  necrosis 
bacillus.  Could  this  be  demonstrated  we  should  then  have  an  explana- 
tion of  the  remarkably  ubiquitous  character  of  the  organism  as  exhibited 
in  the  wide  diversity  of  diseases  caused  by  it.  In  this  manner  could 
be  explained  its  relation  not  only  to  the  necrotic  inflammations  occur- 
ring in  the  vagina  and  uterus,  but  also  to  all  the  external  necrotic 
processes.  This  Bang  succeeded  in  doing.  He  twice  made  inocula- 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  21 

tions  of  the  intestinal  contents  of  health}'  hogs  with  the  result  of 
demonstrating  the  presence  of  Bacillus  necrophorus.  An  analogous 
investigation  by  him  of  the  intestinal  canal  of  a  cow  was  not  so 
successful. 

PATHOGEXESIS. 

Very  few  organisms  exhibit  a  wider  range  of  pathogenesis.  Accord- 
ing to  clinical  observation  the  necrosis  bacillus  has  so  far  been  found 
pathogenic  for  cattle,  sheep,  goats,  antelope,  reindeer,  red  deer,  roe 
deer,  horses,  asses,  hogs,  kangaroos,  rabbits,  dogs,  and  chickens. 
Experimental  work  adds  to  the  foregoing  list  mice  and,  under  special 
conditions,  guinea  pigs  and  pigeons. 

It  is  probably  safe  to  assert  that  no  tissue  of  the  body  of  a  suscep- 
tible animal  is  safe  from  its  destructive  influence. 


UXDEH    NATURAL    CONDITIONS. 


Natural  infections  induced  by  Bacillus  necrophorus  may  be  consid- 
ered as  follows:  Necroses  of  the  skin,  hoof,  muscle,  cartilage,  mucous 
membranes  (mouth  and  upper  air  passages,  digestive  tract,  genital 
tract),  navel,  and  viscera. 

Necrosis  of  the  skin  in  horses  has  occurred  enzootically  on  a  large 
breeding  farm,  the  necrosis  appearing  on  portions  of  the  skin  exposed 
to  pressure  of  the  harness.  A  necrotic  form  of  scratches  has  also  been 
shown  to  be  a  local  infection  of  Bacillus  necrophorus.  Gangrenous 
pocks  in  cows  have  the  same  origin,  and  consist  of  an  acute  necrotic 
inflammation  of  the  skin  and  soft  parts  of  the  teats.  In  hogs  such  a 
necrotic  process  has  occurred  in  the  skin  of  the  muzzle,  of  the  outside 
of  the  lips,  of  the  feet,  and,  in  sows,  of  the  udder. 

Necroses  of  the  hoof  include  in  horses  a  progressive  necrosis  of  the 
soft  parts  of  the  hoof,  often  involving  the  bones  and  cartilages;  in 
cows,  reindeer,  and  roe  deer,  panaritium,  or  so-called  foot-rot,  involv- 
ing tendon  sheaths,  tendons,  bones,  and  joints;  in  sheep,  foot-rot, 
recently  shown  to  be  due  to  the  necrosis  bacillus. 

Necroses  of  muscle  have  been  reported  in  connection  with  a  granu- 
lating wound  of  the  inner  side  of  the  hind  leg  of  a  cow,  also  as  a  result 
of  the  passage  of  a  foreign  body  from  the  stomach  into  the  heart 
muscle,  and  also  in  a  case  where  a  cow's  heart,  kidney,  and  some  of 
the  voluntary  muscles  were  affected. 

Necroses  of  cartilage  are  represented  by  those  already  included 
under  hoof  necrosis,  by  quitter,  or  fistula  of  the  lateral  cartilages,  and 
by  the  laryngeal  cartilages  in  many  cases  of  necrotic  stomatitis. 

Necroses  of  bone  have  been  reported  in  association  with  the  hoof 
necrosis  of  various  animals,  in  the  vertebrae  in  the  course  of  some  cases 
of  necrotic  stomatitis,  and  in  the  turbinated  bone  of  the  horse. 

Necroses  of  mucous  membranes  may  be  regarded  as  quite  frequent. 
Those  of  the  mouth  and  upper  air  passages  are  fully  discussed  in  this 


22  BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 

paper,  and  have  been  recognized  in  the  calf,  adult  cattle,  pigs,  sheep, 
kangaroos,  rabbits,  asses,  dogs,  and  chickens.  No  less  sensitive  are  the 
mucous  membranes  of  the  digestive  tract.  In  pigs  the  upper  portion 
of  the  esophagus,  by  extension  from  the  mouth,  and  in  calves  the 
esophagus  in  its  entire  length,  have  been  affected.  In  hogs  these 
"necrophorus"  patches  have  been  found  in  the  stomach,  small  intes- 
tine, cecum,  colon,  and  rectum.  In  horses  they  have  been  demon- 
strated in  the  colon;  in  cattle,  in  the  rumen,  in  the  reticulurn,  and  in 
the  small  intestine;  and  in  the  deer  and  antelope,  in  the  stomach. 

The  mucous  membranes  of  the  genital  tract  of  cows  that  have 
recently  calved  are  often  invaded  by  the  Bacillus  necrophorus^  result- 
ing in  a  necrotic  vaginitis  and  a  necrotic  metritis. 

Navel  disease  in  calves  and  lambs65  is  dependent  in  a  considerable 
number  of  cases  on  infection  of  the  wound  by  the  necrosis  bacillus. 

Bacillary  necrosis  of  the  heart,  lungs,  liver,  kidney,  and  spleen, 
also  of  the  udder,  have  all  been  reported  as  the  result  of  metastasis 
from  the  original  seat  of  the  disease,  in  necrotic  stomatitis,  necrotic 
scratches,  the  various  forms  of  foot-rot,  and  infection  of  the  genital 
passage. 

The  classic  example  of  Bacillus  necrophorus  in  mixed  infections  is 
hog  cholera.  Here  it  has  been  proved  unequivocal^  that  the  deep 
necroses  and  so-called  diphtheric  processes  occurring  in  the  body  of 
a  pig  affected  with  hog  cholera  are  due  in  some  cases  to  the  invasion 
of  the  necrosis  bacillus.  It  has  also  been  found  as  a  secondary  invader 
in  the  necrotic  patches  in  so-called  fowl  diphtheria. 

UNDER    ARTIFICIAL   CONDITIONS. 

The  pathogenicity  of  Bacillus  necrophorus  under  artificial  conditions 
was  tested  upon  rabbits,  mice,  guinea  pigs,  chickens,  pigeons,  calves, 
sheep,  and  pigs,  in  order  to  establish  its  causal  relation  to  the  disease 
in  question. 

EXPERIMENTS  ON  RABBITS. 

Subcutaneous  method. — These  animals  are  highly  susceptible  to  the 
action  of  the  Bacillus  necrophorm,  and  to  this  susceptibility  is  due 
the  ease  with  which  the  presence  of  the  germ  in  diseased  tissue 
may  be  demonstrated.  A  bit  of  tissue  adjacent  to  the  border  of 
the  necrosed  area  is  emulsified  in  a  normal  saline  solution.  The 
subcutaneous  inoculation  of  a  rabbit  with  0.5  c.  c.  of  this  emulsion 
will  result  in  the  death  of  the  animal  within  one  week.  In  order 
to  free  the  tissues  of  the  experiment  animal  from  other  forms  of 
microorganisms  naturally  present  in  material  taken  from  such  an 
exposed  place  as  the  mouth,  it  is  advisable  to  use  a  second  or  even  a 
third  rabbit.  The  first  rabbit  will,  however,  in  spite  of  the  contam- 
inated material  used  in  its  inoculation,  show  very  characteristic  lesions, 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  23 

which  can  be  referred  to  the  action  of  no  organism  other  than  the 
bacillus  of  necrosis.  The  chief  of  these  typical  changes  will  be  noted 
at  the  point  of  inoculation,  where,  lying  beneath  the  skin  and  extend- 
ing down  for  a  greater  or  less  depth  into  the  muscular  tissues,  is  found 
an  irregular  area  about  3  to  5  cm.  in  diameter.  This  area  offers  to 
the  naked  eye  much  the  appearance  of  a  flattened  mass  of  soft,  fresh 
putty,  and  to  the  nose  the  penetrating  odor  already  referred  to  as 
between  the  smell  of  cheese  and  that  of  glue.  This  pulpy,  yellowish 
white,  malodorous  mass  is  the  detritus  of  muscular,  fatty,  and  vascular 
tissues  which  have  been  attacked  and  destroyed  through  the  presence 
of  the  necrosis  bacillus  as  well  as  by  its  effective  poisons.  Reaching 
out  into  the  surrounding  tissues  for  about  4  cm.  in  all  directions 
is  found  a  zone  of  inflammatory  tissue,  and  the  subcutaneous  and 
muscular  tissues  of  the  abdominal  region  are  inflamed  and  edematous 
through  extension  by  gravitation  of  the  disease  process  from  the  local 
lesion  caused  by  inoculation.  Not  seldom  in  these  cases  is  there  to  be 
observed  a  marked  development  of  gas  bubbles.  Frequently  that 
portion  of  the  large  colon  adjacent  to  the  diseased  abdominal  wall  is 
greatly  injected  and  adherent  to  the  parietal  peritoneum  by  a  plastic 
exudate  containing  numerous  short  and  long  forms  of  the  bacillus  of 
necrosis.  This  part  of  the  peritoneum  is  also  inflamed  and  presents 
petechial  hemorrhages.  Examination  of  the  soft  mass  found  in 
the  necrosed  area  at  the  point  of  inoculation  shows  that  it  is 
penetrated  in  every  direction  by  long  thread-like  bacilli,  and 
the  subcutaneous  inoculation  of  a  second  rabbit  with  a  small  scraping 
from  this  mass  serves  to  eliminate  a  large  proportion  of  the  contami- 
nating organisms.  Because  of  the  greater  purity  of  the  material  now 
used,  the  inoculation  will  not  result  fatally  until  a  period  usually  from 
eight  to  fourteen  days,  although  occasionally  death  has  been  prolonged 
until  nineteen,  and  in  one  case  twenty-three,  days.  In  many  instances 
it  will  be  found  that  this  longer  period  of  time  has  proved  sufficient 
to  allow  the  circulation  to  take  up  a  few  of  the  bacilli  and  deposit 
them  in  the  plexuses  of  the  lungs,  liver,  or  kidne3's,  where  small, 
yellowish  white  spots  of  necrosis  will  result,  which  may  be  readily 
peeled  out  as  if  in  a  capsule.  From  these  secondary  visceral  necroses, 
pure  cultures  of  the  Bacillus  necrophorm  may  now  be  obtained,  and  its 
further  development  secured  by  the  utilization  of  anaerobic  methods 
of  culture.  The  injection  of  0.5  c.  c.  of  these  pure  cultures  under  the 
skin  of  the  back  produced  the  same  characteristic  yellowish  white  area 
of  muscular  necrosis  about  the  point  of  inoculation  and  the  peculiar 
penetrating  odor  so  constant  with  this  bacillus.  The  course  of  the 
disease  is  about  the  same  as  when  an  emulsion  of  the  fresh  tissue  has 
been  injected,  and,  in  those  cases  in  which  life  was  prolonged  several 
weeks,  metastatic  areas  of  focal  necrosis  were  always  noted.  The 
approach  of  death  is  usually  indicated  by  convulsions;  the  animal 


24  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

comes  out  of  one  to  be  seized  with  another,  death  generally  resulting 
in  a  few  hours  after  the  onset  of  the  first  convulsion.  In  the  majority 
of  rabbits  that  succumbed  to  this  disease,  a  marked  rigor  mortis  was 
observed,  especially  noticeable  in  the  hind  quarters,  causing  the  back 
to  be  arched  and  the  legs  contracted  as  if  in  a  tetanic  spasm.  Micro- 
scopic examination  of  tissue  taken  from  the  necrosed  area  or  from 
motastatic  lesions  of  the  liver  or  lungs  shows  the  presence  of  typical 
necrosis  bacilli  in  great  numbers.  In  the  case  of  organic  lesions  these 
filaments  are  seen  to  be  arranged  along  the  border  of  the  area  of 
necrosis,  whereas  the  central  portion  is  amorphous  and  does  not  reveal 
the  presence  of  any  microorganisms. 

Intravenous  method. — The  intravenous  method  of  inoculation  was 
adopted  in  nine  cases,  four  of  which  resulted  in  the  death  of  the 
animal.  Each  rabbit  received  in  the  posterior  auricular  vein  0.3  c.  c. 
of  an  emulsion  of  the  tissue  filtered  through  cotton,  the  filtrate  con- 
taining numerous  bacilli. 

The  course  of  the  disease  ranged  from  seven  to  twelve  days.  The 
symptoms  exhibited  in  all  cases  were  the  same  as  those  induced  by 
subcutaneous  inoculation  and  consisted  of  gradual  emaciation  followed 
by  the  loss  of  appetite  and  by  convulsions,  paralysis,  and  death.  The 
postmortem  examination  showed  the  principal  lesions  to  be  located  in 
the  thoracic  cavity.  The  lungs  contained  several  caseous  nodules  the 
size  of  peas  surrounded  by  a  hemorrhagic  zone,  and  in  one  rabbit  the 
left  principal  lobe  was  adherent  to  the  costal  pleura  by  a  thick, 
purulent  exudate.  In  each  case  the  costal  pleura  contained  several 
metastatic  foci  and  the  chest  muscles  in  two  instances  were  the  seat  of 

DESCRIPTION  OF  PLATE  3. 

Section  of  lung  of  rabbit  No.  1197,  inoculated  subcutaneously  with  a  bouillon  culture 
of  Bacillus  necrophorus,  showing  four  metastatic  foci.  Stained  with  Loffler's  methylene 
blue.  Magnified  about  25  diameters. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  PLATE  4. 

Section  of  lung  of  rabbit  No.  1197,  showing  the  superior  focus  in  plate  3  greatly 
amplified.  Notice  the  felted  network  of  wavy  filaments  and  smaller  forms  of  Bacillus 
necrophorus.  Stained  with  Loffler's  methylene  blue.  Magnified  about  450  diameters. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  PLATE  5. 

FIG.  1. — Cover-glass  preparation  from  a  metastatic  focus  in  the  wall  of  the  left 
ventricle  of  rabbit  No.  1219,  which  died  on  the  fourteenth  day  following  a  subcutaneous 
injection  of  a  Martin's  bouillon  culture  of  the  necrosis  bacillus.  Stained  with  Ziehl's 
carbol-fuchsin.  Composite  drawing  made  with  camera  lucida  at  base  of  stand  with 
Zeiss  No.  6  compensating  ocular,  2  mm.  oil  immersion  objective  and  160  mm.  tube 
length. 

FIG.  2. — Photograph  of  Petri  dish  containing  numerous  characteristic  colonies  of 
necrosis  bacilli  forty-eight  hours  after  their  inoculation  into  bouillon  agar  and  fol- 
lowing their  incubation  at  39°  C.  in  a  closed  jar  containing  pyrogallic  acid.  Notice 
the  gas  formation  and  the  fluffy  outlines  of  the  colonies,  with  their  dark  dense  centers. 


Bulletin  No.  67,  B.  A.  I. 


PLATE  3. 


SECTION  OF  LUNG  OF  RABBIT  SHOWING  MET  ASTATIC  Foci. 


Haines 


Bulletin  No.  67,  B.  A.  I. 


PLATE  4. 


:  2^-  -•**- 


SECTION  OF  LUNG  OF  RABBIT  SHOWING  FELTED  NETWORK  OF  BACILLUS  NECROPHORUS. 


Haines  del 


Bulletin  No.  67,  B.  A.  I. 


PLATE  5. 


FIG.  1.— BACILLUS  NECROPHORUS  FROM  METASTATIC  Focus  IN  RABBIT'S  HEART. 


FIG.  2.— PETRI  DISH  CONTAINING  CHARACTERISTIC  COLONIES  OF  NECROSIS  BACILLI.    X  2. 


Haines  del 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  25 

one  or  two  localized  areas  of  coagulation  necrosis.  In  another  the 
caseous  process  had  included  the  entire  surface  of  both  lungs,  the 
pericardium,  and  the  heart  itself  until  all  were  superficially  fused  into 
one  cheesy  mass.  The  liver  of  one  animal  contained  eight  superficial 
areas  of  caseation  varying  in  size  from  a  pea  to  a  hazelnut  and  was 
adherent  to  the  diaphragm  and  abdominal  muscles.  All  other  organs 
were  normal.  No  lesion  was  observed  about  the  point  of  inoculation 
in  three  cases;  the  fourth  showed  a  narrow  strip  of  necrosis  along  the 
line  of  the  vein  for  about  half  an  inch.  Cover-glass  preparations 
made  from  the  lesions  contained  numerous  characteristic  specimens  of 
Bacillus  necrophorus.^ 

EXPERIMENTS  ON  MICE. 

Subcutaneous  inoculation. — The  remarkable  susceptibility  of  a  white 
mouse  to  "necrophorus  infection"  makes  this  animal  an  excellent 
medium  for  the  preservation  of  the  virulence  of  that  microorganism, 
as  well  as  a  means  of  obtaining  it  in  pure  culture.  Unfortunate!}', 
this  animal's  extreme  susceptibility  to  many  forms  of  the  bacterial 
flora  of  the  mouth  disqualifies  it  for  use  in  the  early  stages  of  an 
investigation.  The  inoculation  experiments  ma}'  be  carried  on  by 
placing  a  small  bit  of  necrosed  tissue  into  a  pocket  in  the  skin  of  the 
back,  or  by  injecting  into  the  same  region  0.1  c.  c.  of  a  fluid  culture 
or  emulsion  containing  the  germ  in  a  pure  state.  In  two  to  four  daj's 
the  point  of  inoculation  is  covered  with  a  rather  thick,  blackish,  or 
dark-brown  dry  scab  around  which  is  a  zone  of  redness.  Beneath  this 
scab  proceeds  a  coagulation  necrosis  spreading  through  the  subcutane- 
ous tissues  until  the  mouse  is  completely  mummified,  shriveled  up, 
and  covered  with  a  dry  parchment-like  coating;  or,  penetrating  into 
the  body  cavities  in  its  course,  successively  caseates  muscle,  cartilage, 
bone,  and  viscera.  In  some  of  these  cases  so  general  becomes  the 
caseous  process  that  it  is  difficult  to  decide  whether  the  viscera  have 
suffered  embolic  necrosis  or  have  become  involved  in  the  progressive 
caseation  through  extension  by  contiguitj*.  In  cases  in  which  necrotic 
action  was  less  widespread,  small  focal  necroses  containing  the  Bacillus 
newophorus  in  pure  culture  were  found  in  the  lungs,  liver,  and  spleen. 
In  our  experiments  mice  have  died  as  early  as  five,  and  as  late  as 
twenty-one  days. 

«  While  these  pages  were  in  press  an  interesting  experiment  in  natural  infection 
was  completed.  Rabbit  1262  died,  presenting  a  complete  picture  of  Schmorl's  dis- 
ease. It  had  been  associated  with  an  inoculated  rabbit  affected  with  a  "necropho- 
rus"  ulcer  on  the  right  ear,  and  was  repeatedly  noticed  licking  this  sore  spot.  The 
necropsy  revealed  a  necrotic  stomatitis  involving  the  gums,  dental  alveoli,  body  of 
the  inferior  maxillary,  floor  of  the  mouth,  sublingual  and  submaxillary  glands,  and 
the  tissues  of  the  face  and  neck.  There  were  no  internal  necroses.  Cover-slip 
preparations  and  inoculations,  both  artificial  and  animal,  demonstrated  the  presence 
of  Bacillus  necrophorus. 


26  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

EXPERIMENTS  ON  GVINEA  PIGS. 

Guinea  pigs  were  inoculated  with  pure  cultures  of  necrosis  bacilli 
by  both  the  subcutaneous  and  intraabdominal  methods,  but  these 
were  followed  by  negative  results.  Nine  animals  were  used  in  the 
experiments,  and  doses  ranging  from  0.25  to  1  c.c.  of  a  forty-eight-hour 
bouillon  culture  were  injected  without  producing  any  unfavorable 
effects.  However,  one  positive  result  was  obtained  with  guinea  pig  No. 
3181,  which  was  injected  intraabdominally  with  0.5  c.c.  of  an  emulsion 
of  the  necrosed  tissue  taken  from  the  mouth  of  calf  No.  3.  Death  fol- 
lowed on  the  tenth  day.  On  autopsy  the  carcass  appeared  emaciated. 
The  point  of  inoculation  in  the  prepubic  region  was  surrounded  by  an 
abscess  seve  ml  millimeters  in  diameter  containing  a  rich  yellowish  pus. 
In  the  linea  alba  several  inches  above  this  abscess  was  a  metastatic 
nodule  1.5  cm.  in  diameter,  involving  the  muscular  tissue  and  the 
peritoneal  lining.  It  contained  the  same  character  of  pus.  On  the  right 
side  of  the  linea  alba  the  peritoneum  was  adherent  to  the  contiguous 
loop  of  the  colon  opposite  the  last  rib.  The  right  and  left  lobes  of  the 
liver  were  almost  fused  into  one  by  abscess  formation.  The  right  lobe 
particularly  was  the  seat  of  several  abscesses  1£  cm.  long  by  1  cm.  wide, 
with  a  line  of  demarcation  plain  and  straight  between  the  part  abso- 
lutely necrosed  and  the  invaded  portion.  The  spleen  appeared  mot- 
tled and  slightly  enlarged,  and  the  kidneys  were  deeply  congested. 
The  lungs  were  engorged  on  the  right  side  and  showed  one  or  two 
foci  of  hepatization.  The  presence  of  Bacillus  necrophorm  in  the 
liver  abscesses  was  demonstrated  by  microscopic  preparations  and  by 
animal  inoculations. 

EXPERIMENTS  ON  CHICKENS. 

Four  fowls  were  injected — two  by  intravenous  and  two  by  intra- 
muscular inoculations — with  0.75  c.c.  of  a  forty-eight-hour  Martin's 
bouillon  culture,  but  in  no  case  was  the  result  fatal.  Nothing  was 
observed  that  would  indicate  that  the  birds  had  been  injected,  and  after 
a  period  of  two  months  they  were  chloroformed.  The  postmortem 
examination  revealed  absolutely  healthy  birds. 

EXPERIMENTS  ON  PIGEONS. 

The  inoculation  of  two  pigeons  indicated  that  the  bacillus  is  not 
pathogenic  for  these  birds.  One  pigeon  was  inoculated  intravenously 
with  0.3  c.c.  of  a  forty-eight-hour  culture  in  Martin's  bouillon,  the 
other  bird  with  0.5  c.c.  of  a  similar  culture  into  the  pectoral  muscles. 
This  experiment  was  concluded  six  weeks  after  its  inauguration  by 
chloroforming  the  pigeons,  but  in  neither  case  was  any  abnormal 
condition  apparent. 

EXPERIMENTS  ON  CALVES. 

Subcutaneous  inoculations. — Heifer  calf  No.  351,  7  months  old,  was 
injected  October  5,  1904,  on  the  inside  of  the  upper  lip  with  1  c.c. 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  27 

of  an  emulsion  prepared  from  the  point  of  inoculation  of  rabbit 
No.  1215,  which  was  the  seventh  in  a  series  of  animals  inoculated  with 
the  material  from  a  calf  affected  with  necrotic  stomatitis. 

October  7. — There  is  a  slight  reddening  about  the  site  of  injection,  with  a  temperature 
of  102.6°  F. 

October  10. — The  temperature  has  reached  103.2°  F.,  and  a  large  tumor  with  a  soft 
center  is  observed  at  the  point  of  inoculation.  Pus  can  be  seen  oozing  from  the 
opening  made  by  the  needle  in  the  lip. 

October  11. — There  is  an  enlargement  about  1  by  2  by  1  inch  in  size  at  seat  of  injec- 
tion, with  an  ulcerating  surface  surrounding  the  point  of  puncture. 

October  12. — The  caseous  nodule  is  about  the  same  size,  and  is  still  suppurating. 

October  14. — The  enlargement  on  lip  does  not  appear  to  have  increased  any  in  size. 
An  opening  simulating  a  rodent  ulcer  about  one-half  inch  in  diameter  has  formed  en 
the  inner  side  of  lip  which  leads  to  the  pus  cavity  in  the  center  of  the  necrotic  area. 
Thick  creamy  yellow  pus  issues  from  it. 

October  17. — The  pus  has  been  evacuated  from  the  abscess  in  lip,  and  the  lesion  has 
begun  to  heal. 

October  18. — The  lesion  in  the  mouth  is  healing  rapidly,  and  the  animal  has  been 
removed  from  the  experiment. 

On  August  14,  1904,  a  fragment  of  necrosed  tissue  about  one-half 
the  size  of  a  pea  was  inserted  into  a  pocket  made  beneath  the  mucous 
membrane  on  the  right  side  of  upper  lip  of  calf  No.  318,  4  months 
old.  The  tissue  was  taken  from  the  seat  of  injection  of  rabbit  No. 
822,  the  second  in  a  series  of  rabbits  inoculated  with  a  pure  culture  of 
the  Bacillus  necrophorus  obtained  from  the  lip  of  a  Berkshire  shoat 
affected  with  necrotic  stomatitis. 

.. \ugust  15. — Temperature  of  the  cal  f  is  103.2°  F. ,  and  an  inflammatory  zone  is  noticed 
about  the  punctured  mucous  membrane. 

August  17. — At  the  seat  of  inoculation  there  is  a  hard  spheroidal  enlargement 
about  1  inch  in  diameter. 

August  18. — The  abscess  at  point  of  inoculation  has  not  increased  any  in  size.  A 
plug  of  pus  and  necrotic  material  of  one-half  cubic  inch  in  volume  has  been  extruded 
from  the  caseous  nodule  in  the  mucous  membrane  at  the  seat  of  injection. 

August  19. — A  small  quantity  of  very  thick  pus  is  being  secreted  from  the  abscess. 
Temperature  remains  about  the  same  as  on  previous  days,  103°  F. 

August  22. — Only  a  small  ulcer  with  a  slight  reddening  at  seat  of  inoculation 
remains.  Temperature  104.8°  F. 

August 24. — Lesion  is  healing;  appetite  is  good;  temperature  104°  F. 

September  1. — The  ulcer  at  seat  of  inoculation  has  about  healed.  Temperature 
102.4°  F. 

September  12. — Animal  removed  from  this  experiment. 

Roan  calf  No.  350,  2  months  old,  was  inoculated  Ma}T  24,  1904,  on 
the  lower  portion  of  the  left  cheek  with  tissue  taken  from  rabbit  No. 
1015,  which  was  one  of  a  series  of  rabbits  injected  with  the  necrosis 
bacillus  obtained  from  a  case  of  foot-rot  in  sheep. 

May  26. — There  is  a  reddening  of  the  mucous  membrane  about  the  seat  of  injection. 
May  27. — The  animal  appears  dull  and  languid  and  eats  sparingly.     The  mucous 
membrane  is  of  a  grayish  color  and  presents  an  ulcer  about  1 J  inches  in  diameter. 


28  BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 

May  28. — A  distinct  and  characteristic  ulcer  has  formed,  containing  a  caseous 
necrotic  center  surrounded  by  a  zone  of  inflammation.  From  the  caseous  material 
scraped  from  the  deeper  portion  of  this  ulcer  rabbit  No.  1117  was  injected  under  the 
skin  of  the  back.  (This  rabbit  succumbed  on  the  sixth  day  following,  with  charac- 
teristic lesions,  from  which  the  Racillvs  necrophorus  was  obtained. ) 

May  31. — Point  of  inoculation  in  cheek  of  calf  still  shows  ulceration,  but  swelling 
and  inflammation  are  disappearing. 

June  11. — Healing  is  about  completed,  there  being  only  a  small,  depressed  ulcer 
remaining. 

Subcutaneous  and  intravenous  inoculation. — On  November  27,  1903, 
calf  No.  33T,  11  months  old,  was  injected  on  the  left  side  of  tongue 
with  1  c.c.  and  inoculated  in  the  right  jugular  vein  with  5  c.c.  of  a 
culture  of  Bacillus  necrophorus  obtained  from  necrotic  stomatitis  of 
calves. 

December  3. — The  animal  has  remained  perfectly  well  in  every  respect.     No  lesions. 
December  16. — The  calf  to  all  appearances  continues  well. 

December  26. — General  condition  remains  good.  Temperature  has  been  normal 
throughout  the  experiment. 

Owing  to  the  negative  result  of  this  experiment  it  ma}T  be  concluded 
that  the  animal  in  question  was  not  susceptible  to  the  injections,  proba- 
bly on  account  of  its  age. 

Intravenous  inoculations. — Gray  calf,  No.  359,  was  injected  intra- 
venously (right  jugular  vein)  with  10  c.  c.  of  a  culture  of  the  Bacillus 
necrophoi*us  obtained  from  necrotic  stomatitis  of  calves. 

November  23. — The  only  reaction  shown  from  the  injection  yesterday  is  the  temper- 
ature of  103°  F. 

November  24- — The  temperature  reaches  106.8°  F.  The  calf  is  now  very  sick,  walks 
with  a  staggering  gait,  and  hock  joints  are  flexed  much  more  than  normal.  It 
trembles,  and  eats  scarcely  anything. 

November  25. — The  animal  shows  about  the  same  symptoms  as  yesterday,  but  more 
marked;  pulse,  104. 

November  26. — It  is  considerably  weaker  than  on  November  25,  and  has  difficulty 
in  getting  on  its  feet.  Temperature,  107°  F. 

November  28. — The  condition  is  about  the  same;  very  weak,  but  can  stand  up; 
spiritless  and  refuses  food. 

November  29. — The  calf  seems  somewhat  weaker  and  walks  with  a  staggering  gait. 
Temperature,  104.6°  F. 

November  30. — It  is  still  very  weak  and  more  stupid  than  yesterday;  appetite  is 
much  improved.  Temperature,  104°  F. 

December  1. — It  shows  no  improvement  in  general  appearance,  but  has  a  much 
better  appetite. 

December  2. — The  condition  is  same  as  yesterday.     Animal  killed  by  bleeding. 

The  postmortem  examination  held  shortly  after  death  showed  the 
carcass  to  be  in  a  rather  poor  condition  and  the  hair  and  skin  dry  and 
harsh.  On  opening  the  thoracic  cavity  the  lungs  were  found  to  con- 
tain a  number  of  encapsulated  caseous  nodules  scattered  quite  regu- 
larly in  the  peripheral  and  superficial  portions  of  the  lobes.  There 
were  nine  such  areas  in  the  right  lung  and  seven  in  the  left  lung. 
Four  of  these  nodules  were  surrounded  by  hemorrhagic  zones,  while 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  29 

the  remainder  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  early  pulmonary 
lesions  of  caseous  lymphadenitis  of  sheep,  and  were  circumscribed  by 
normal  lung  tissue.  On  sectioning  they  were  seen  to  contain  a  yel- 
lowish white,  thick,  rather  dry  mass,  from  which  the  necrosis  bacillus 
was  obtained  in  purity.  The  liver  showed  three  small  superticial  foci 
of  necrosis  the  size  of  a  grain  of  wheat,  while  the  heart,  spleen,  and 
kidneys  were  apparently  without  lesions.  No  alteration  of  any  kind 
was  observed  at  the  point  where  the  intravenous  injection  was  made. 
Culture  media  were  inoculated  with  the  caseous  material  from  the 
necrotic  areas  in  the  lungs,  and  a  rabbit  was  injected  subcutaneously 
with  similar  material,  with  the  result  that  characteristic  development 
in  the  former  case  occurred  within  forty -eight  hours,  and  in  the  latter 
case  death  of  the  rabbit  followed  on  the  eighth  day  with  typical  post- 
mortem lesions. 

EXPERIMENTS  ON  SHEEP. 

Subcutaneous  inoculations. — On  August  22,  1904,  a  small  fragment 
of  necrotic  tissue,  obtained  from  the  same  source  as  that  used  on  calf 
No.  318,  was  introduced  into  a  pocket  made  under  the  mucous  mem- 
brane of  the  right  cheek  of  sheep  No.  23,  about  1  year  old. 

August  24- — At  the  seat  of  inoculation  in  the  mouth  there  is  an  inflammatory  proc- 
ess which  has  caused  a  small  patch  of  necrosis  in  the  mucous  membrane.  Temper- 
ature 104°  F. 

August  26. — The  ulcerous  area  in  the  mouth  has  reached  one-half  inch  in  diameter 
and  is  secreting  pus.  The  inflammation  and  swelling  are  somewhat  reduced.  Tem- 
perature 103.6°  F. 

August  30. — The  lesion  at  the  point  of  injection  is  decreasing  in  size  and  the  tem- 
perature of  the  animal  is  102.4°  F. 

September  1. — The  ulcer  has  nearly  healed.     Temperature  102°  F. 

September  9. — No  lesion  at  seat  of  inoculation.     Condition  of  animal  is  good. 

Sheep  No.  102,  pure  Merino,  born  in  the  fall  of  1902,  was  inoculated 
May  9, 1903,  on  the  lower  lip  with  a  culture  of  necrosis  bacillus  obtained 
from  necrotic  stomatitis  of  calves. 

May  21. — No  symptom  of  the  disease  has  thus  far  appeared. 

June  1. — No  lesions  are  to  be  seen  in  the  mouth,  and  the  sheep  seems  to  be  well 
and  gaining  flesh. 

June  5. — Animal  is  removed  from  experiment. 

EXPERIMENTS  ON  PIGS. 

Subcutaneous  inoculation. — On  October  5, 1904,  pig  No.  1448,  weigh- 
ing 50  pounds,  was  injected  inside  of  upper  lip  on  the  right  side  with 
1  c.c.  of  the  emulsion  obtained  from  the  same  source  as  that  used  on 
calf  No.  351.  Following  the  injection  the  pig  continued  in  good  con- 
dition, and  no  alterations  were  observed  at  point  of  inoculation  until 
October  12,  when  a  small  inflamed  swelling  was  detected,  which  showed 
a  small  necrotic  center.  By  October  14  this  enlargement  had  reached 
the  size  of  a  hazelnut,  with  a  small  ulcerative  surface  about  5  cm.  in 


30  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

diameter.  The  lesion  remained  stationary  for  several  days,  when 
healing  started,  and  by  November  2  the  ulcer  had  almost  disappeared. 
On  November  12  the  animal  was  in  good  condition,  without  any  altera- 
tion at  seat  of  injection. 

PATHOLOGY. 

The  pathologic  process  which  everywhere  characterizes  Bacillus 
necrophorw  is  a  necrobiosis,  involving  coagulation  necrosis  with  sub- 
sequent caseation,  and  marked  by  a  progressive  invasion  of  the  sur- 
rounding (particularly  the  deeper)  tissue  and  a  remarkable  tendency 
to  metastasis.  When  this  process  is  applied  to  a  mucous  membrane 
we  have  presented  to  us  a  diphtheric  inflammation  plus  caseation. 

A  discussion  of  terms  at  this  point  is  necessary  for  clearness  of  definition.  The 
Greek  5r<£6e/3a=diphthera,  means  membrane.  According  to  usage  in  medical 
nomenclature  "diphtheritis"  should  mean  an  inflammation  of  a  membrane.  It  is 
unfortunate  that  this  term,  seldom  used  in  English — more  frequently  used  on  the 
Continent — has  been  made  synonymous  with  diphtheria.  This  latter  term  is  used 
to-day  to  refer  solely  to  that  disease  process  evoked  by  the  presence  and  activities  in 
the  tissues  of  the  Klebs- Loftier  bacillus.  That  process  is  characterized  usually,  if 
not  quite  always,  by  the  production  of  a  false  membrane.  At  the  time  of  the  appli- 
cation of  this  term,  and  for  years  afterwards,  it  was  supposed  that  etiologically,  this 
process  of  inflammation  characterized  by  membrane  formation  was  always  the  same. 
Bacteriology  has  exploded  this  idea,  and  it  is  now  known  that  this  process  can  be 
provoked  by  numerous  causes  other  than  the  Klebs-Loffler  bacillus.  We  see  no  diffi- 
culty whatever  in  thus  limiting  the  term  diphtheria  as  above. 

The  adjective  "diphtheritic"  very  naturally  and  properly  associates  itself  with 
"diphtheritis."  Hence,  so  long  as  diphtheritis  and  diphtheria  are  used  synony- 
mously so  long  will  diphtheritic  be  associated  with  diphtheria  as  the  qualifying 
adjective.  So  we  find  that  among  most  writers  a  diphtheritic  inflammation  is  an 
inflammation  excited  by  the  Klebs-Ixiffler  organism. 

A  "diphtheric"  inflammation,  however,  is  an  inflammation  characterized  by  the 
formation  of  a  ditpQspa,  or  membrane.  It  is  not  synonymous  with  diphtheria,  and 
may  be  induced  by  a  variety  of  causes — mechanic,  chemic,  and  microbic — other  than 
Klebs-Loffler  bacillus. 

The  name  "calf  diphtheria"  is  therefore  incorrect  when  applied  to  necrotic 
stomatitis.  The  application  of  the  adjective  "diphtheric"  is  almost  as  misleading, 
since  it  stops  short  of  a  complete  pathalogic  anatomy  of  the  disease. 

The  principal  lesions  in  necrotic  stomatitis  occur  in  the  mucous 
membrane  of  the  mouth  and  pharynx.  The  alterations  may  extend 
to  the  nasal  cavities,  larynx,  trachea,  sublingual  lymph  glands,  lung, 
esophagus,  intestines,  and  hoof.  The  oral  surfaces  affected  are,  in  the 
order  of  frequency,  tongue,  cheeks,  hard  palate,  gums,  and  lips.  In 
the  majority  of  cases  the  primary  infection  appears  to  take  place  in 
the  tongue.  The  manner  of  infection  in  very  young  animals  is  con- 
nected, beyond  all  doubt,  with  the  eruption  of  the  first  temporary 
teeth  after  birth  or,  in  animals  somewhat  older,  an  inoculation  which 
probably  occurs  most  frequently  by  a  sharp-pointed  particle  of  food 
penetrating  the  mucous  membrane.  At  the  point  of  entrance  the 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  31 

system  recognizes  the  presence  and  multiplication  of  the  bacilli  by  a 
reaction  marked  by  congestion  and  reddening,  followed  by  an  exuda- 
tion rich  in  albuminoids  or  fibrin-forming  substances,  and  a  defensive 
immigration  of  leucocytes. 

The  metabolic  products  of  the  bacilli  are  exceedingly  poisonous, 
killing  everything  with  which  they  come  in  contact.  Hence,  the  first 
effect  of  the  organism  is  a  necrosis,  or  death,  of  the  superficial  layer 
of  epithelial  cells  and  leucocj'tes  at  the  seat  of  invasion.  The  cells 
either  suffer  fragmentation  of  their  nuclei  or  become  transformed  into 
irregular  flakj^  masses — the  so-called  hyaline  masses.  This  constitutes 
superficial  erosion  of  the  mucous  membrane.  The  process  never  stops 
here,  though  we  may  often  recognize  this  stage  in  numerous  recent 
foci  of  necrosis  in  a  rapidly  spreading  form  of  the  disease. 

The  second  alteration  is  the  production  of  false  membrane  b}-  a 
combination  of  coincident  changes.  On  the  one  hand,  the  necrosed 
epithelial  cells  and  leucocytes,  having  lost  their  nuclei  and  finer  struc- 
ture, are  deprived  of  their  normal  granulation  and  striation  and  take 
on  a  scaly  appearance,  being  converted  into  hyaline  substance;  on  the 
other  hand,  the  albuminous  exudate  in  which  these  dead  cells  are 
bathed  precipitates  fibrin  or  coagulates  into  fine  threads.  This  is 
known  as  coagulation  necrosis.  The  false  membrane,  then,  is  the 
result  of  coagulation  necrosis  of  the  inflammatory  exudate  and  the 
entanglement  in  its  meshes  of  the  hyaline  degenerated  epithelial  cells 
and  leucocytes.  This  gives  a  grayish  compact  mass,  more  or  less 
adherent  to  the  underlying  tissue  which,  by  failure  of  the  dead  cells 
to  be  thrown  off,  may  be  built  up  an  eighth  of  an  inch  or  so. 

The  third  alteration  connected  with  this  process  is  due  to  an  invasion 
of  the  deeper  tissues.  The  bacilli  are  always  found  on  the  border  line 
between  the  living  and  dead  tissue.  Here,  in  great  bundles  of  beaded 
filaments,  they  may  be  seen  attacking  the  healthy  tissue,  which  in  turn 
has  erected  against  the  attack  a  wall  of  leucocytes,  while  masses  of 
micrococci,  tangles  of  streptococci,  and  clumps  of  bacteria  are  lodged 
in  the  superficial  layers  (pi.  2,  fig.  1).  Thus  the  process  is  carried 
down  into  the  stroma  or  connective -tissue  framework,  and  by  the 
death  of  these  deeper  tissues  are  formed  ulcers  of  varying  depth. 
These  may  be  sharply  circumscribed,  or  at  times  diffuse,  with  thick- 
ened, slightly  reddened  borders  surmounted  b}^  several  layers  of  this 
necrosed  tissue.  The  floor  of  the  ulcer  is  formed  by  a  grayish-yellow 
corroded  surface,  under  which  the  tissue  is  transformed  into  a  dry,  fri- 
able or  firm  cheesy  mass.  In  the  tongue  caseation  may  progress  to  two 
fingers'  thickness  into  the  muscular  portion;  in  the  cheek  it  may  form 
an  external  opening  permitting  fluids  to  escape  from  the  mouth;  upon 
the  palate  it  frequently  reaches  and  includes  the  bone  in  its  destructive 
course;  upon  the  gums  it  has  produced  necrosis  of  the  alveolar  proc- 
esses, causing  loss  of  the  teeth.  By  the  coagulation  necrosis  occurring 


32  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

in  the  region  of  the  blood  vessels,  they  become  obstructed  by  pressure 
or  sometimes  by  thrombosis,  and  thus  the  dead  tissue  becomes  aras- 
cular,  and  the  necrotic  mass  undergoes  pulverization  into  finer  and 
minuter  particles  until  it  is  a  dry,  crumbly,  yellowish  mass  of  tissue 
detritus  resembling  cheese. 

SYMPTOMS. 

Necrotic  stomatitis  is  both  a  local  and  a  systemic  affection.  Pri- 
marily it  is  local.  The  local  lesion  is  the  caseonecrotic  patch  or  ulcer, 
developed  as  a  result  of  the  multiplication  of  the  bacilli  at  the  point 
of  inoculation.  The  general  affection  is  an  intoxication  or  poisoning 
of  the  whole  system,  produced  by  a  soluble  toxin  elaborated  by  the 
bacilli. 

The  stage  of  incubation  is  from  three  to  five  days.  Calves  have 
shown  signs  of  the  disease  when  only  three  days  old.  During  this  stage 
the  animal  organism  is  passive  and  manifests  no  symptoms.  The  stage 
of  invasion  is  twofold — local  reaction  against  the  invading  organisms 
and  constitutional  manifestations  of  intoxication.  The  first  symptoms 
noted  are  disinclination  to  take  nourishment  and  some  drooling  from 
the  mouth.  An  examination  of  the  mouth  at  this  time  may  show  on 
the  mucous  membrane  of  the  tongue,  hard  palate,  cheeks,  gums,  lips, 
or  fauces  a  circumscribed  area  of  infiltration  and  redness,  possibly  an 
erosion.  The  latter  gradually  extends  in  size  and  depth,  forming  a 
sharply  circumscribed  or  at  times  a  diffuse  area  of  ulceration  (pi.  1). 
It  ma}'  measure  anywhere  from  the  size  of  a  5-cent  nickel  piece  to  that 
of  a  silver  dollar  or  even  larger.  It  has  the  appearance  of  a  corroded 
surface,  under  which  the  mucous  membrane  or  lingual  tissue  seems 
transformed  into  a  dry,  finely  granular,  or  firm  cloddy  mass.  It  is 
grayish  yellow  in  color,  and  is  bordered  by  a  zone  of  thickened  tissue, 
slightly  reddened  and  somewhat  granulated.  The  necrotic  tissue  is 
very  adherent  and  can  be  only  partially  peeled  off.  It  is  homogene- 
ous, cheesy,  and  may  extend  to  the  depth  of  one  inch  into  the  under- 
lying tissue,  involving  the  muscular  tissue  or  even  the  bones.  The 
general  symptoms  are  languor,  weakness,  and  slight  fever.  In  spite 
of  plenty  of  good  food,  the  calf  is  seen  to  be  failing.  It  stops  sucking, 
or,  if  older  than  a  suckling,  altogether  refuses  to  eat.  The  tempera- 
ture at  this  time  may  be  from  104°  to  107°  F.  The  slobber  becomes 
profuse,  swallowing  very  difficult,  opening  of  the  mouth  quite  painful, 
and  a  most  offensive  odor  is  exhaled.  The  tongue  is  swollen  and  its 
motion  greatly  impaired.  Sometimes  the  mouth  is  kept  open,  per- 
mitting the  tumefied  tongue  to  protrude.  One  or  more  of  the  above 
symptoms  direct  the  attention  to  the  mouth  as  the  seat  of  disease;  or, 
having  noticed  the  debility  and  disinclination  to  eat,  an  examination 
of  the  animal  may  show  a  lump  under  the  neck  or  swelling  of  the 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS. 

throat  or  face  as  a  result  of  the  large  partially  chewed  boluses  of  food 
that  have  collected  there. 
The  following  extract  from  a  letter  is  characteristic: 

I  noticed  my  calves  beginning  to  fail  about  the  first  week  in  December,  but  could 
not  account  for  it,  as  they  were  getting  plenty  of  grain  and  hay.  My  attention  was 
first  attracted  by  a  swelling  under  the  neck  of  one  of  the  calves.  I  cast  the  animal 
and  found  it  was  food  that  had  collected  and  the  animal  couldn't  swallow  it.  I 
removed  the  food,  and  in  so  doing  noticed  a  large  ulcer  on  the  tongue  and  a  very 
offensive  odor.  This  was  the  first  knowledge  I  had  of  anything  being  wrong  with 
the  calves'  mouths.  They  may  have  been  sick  for  sometime  before  this. 

Out  of  a  herd  of  100  belonging  to  this  man,  70  were  affected,  and  the 
letter  emphasizes  the  insidious  character  of  the  onset. 

The  general  affection  at  this  time  manifests  itself  by  dejectedness, 
extreme  weakness  and  emaciation,  constant  lying  down,  with  stiffness 
and  marked  difficulty  in  .standing. 

The  disease  f  requently  extends  to  the  nasal  cavities,  producing  a 
thin  yellowish  or  greenish  yellow  sticky  discharge  which  adheres 
closely  to  the  borders  of  the  nostrils.  Their  edges  also  show  caseous 
patches  similar  to  those  in  the  mouth.  Sometimes  the  nasal  passage 
is  obstructed  by  great  masses  of  the  necrosed  exudate,  thus  causing 
extreme  difficulty  in  breathing.  When  the  caseous  process  involves 
the  larynx  and  trachea,  there  result  cough,  wheezing,  and  dyspnea, 
together  with  a  yellowish  mucopurulent  saliva.  When  life  is  pro- 
longed three  or  four  weeks,  caseous  foci  may  be  established  in  the 
lung,  giving  rise  to  all  the  signs  of  a  broncho-pneumonia.  Many  of 
these  cases  are'  associated  with  a  fibrinous  pleurisy.  The  invasion  of 
the  gastrointestinal  tract  is  announced  by  diarrheic  symptoms. 

In  pigs  the  symptoms  are  practicalh'  the  same  as  have  been  described 
for  calves,  although  the  tongue  is  not  so  likely  to  be  involved.  The 
mouth  becomes  necrosed  in  patches,  especially  in  the  region  of  the 
front  teeth  and  tusks.  Suppuration  and  destruction  of  tissue  around 
the  teeth  may  be  so  great  that  they  finally  become  loosened  and  fall 
out.  The  jaws  are  swollen  and  the  lips  show  cracks  and  scabs.  The 
snout  is  frequently  involved,  resulting  in  some  cases  in  necrosis  of  the 
end  of  the  nose.  The  disagreeable  odor  exhaled  from  the  mouth  and 
the  tendency  of  the  affection  to  spread  to  the  larynx,  pharynx,  and 
tonsils,  and  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach  and  intestines  are 
greater  with  pigs  than  with  calves.  When  the  intestines  become 
involved,  a  black  offensive  diarrhea  is  manifested,  the  pigs  are  dull, 
refuse  to  suckle,  and  are  inclined  to  remain  recumbent.  Prostration 
and  emaciation  are  especially  marked  when  the  digestive  and  respira- 
tory organs  are  involved. 


COURSE  AND  TERMINATION. 

In  the  very  acute  form  of  the  disease  many  of  the  cases  run  their 
course  in  five  to  eight  days.  In  these  the  local  lesion*  are  not  strongly 
marked,  and  death  seems  due  to  an  acute  intoxication.  In  other 
enzootics  the  majority  of  the  affected  animals  live  from  three  to  five 
weeks.  These  are  the  cases  that  usually  present  the  pulmonary  and 
intestinal  symptoms,  and  sometimes  develop,  in  the  case  of  bovines. 
caseonecrotic  lesions  of  the  liver.' 

INFECTIVE  CHARACTER. 

The  consideration  of  this  aspect  of  the  disease  involves  a  study  of 
its  inf  ectiveness  for  animals  and  also  the  question  of  its  transmissibility 
to  man.  Under  the  former  must  be  considered  the  infection  of  an 
isolated  case  or  the  initial  infection  of  a  group  of  cases,  the  transmis- 
sion of  the  disease  from  animal  to  animal  of  the  same  variety  or 
species,  and  its  transmission  from  animals  of  one  species  to  those  of 
another. 

Necrotic  stomatitis  is  enzootic — never  epizootic;  that  is  to  say, 
instead  of  covering  a  wide  area,  like  foot-and-mouth  disease  or  pleuro- 
pneumonia  in  their  march  of  devastation,  it  involves  in  its  infection 
only  the  members  of  a  few  herds  or  the  animals  on  a  single  farm. 
This  is  due  largely  to  the  nature  of  the  infective  agent.  Being  a 
strict  anaerobe  and  not  very  resistant  to  germicidal  influences,  such 
as  light,  there  is,  under  what  are  termed  natural  conditions,  little 
possibility  of  the  conveyance  of  the  microbe  from  place  to  place. 
Another  characteristic  of  the  Bacillus  necrophvrus  is  that  it  is,  strictly 
speaking,  a  secondary  invader.  This  requires  special-  conditions  of 
receptivity  on  the  part  of  the  animal  infected.  For  example,  there 
must  be  a  break  in  the  continuity  of  the  tissue  to  which  the  necrosis 
bacillus  is  applied. 

It  should  be  stated  here  that  the  Bacillus  necrophorus  is  not  to  be 
regarded  as  a  saprophytic  guest  of  the  intestines  of  hogs  and  herbivora 
which,  under  certain  conditions,  develops  pathogenic  properties.  It  is 
always  and  everywhere  the  producer  of  a  progressive  tissue  necrosis 
characterized  by  caseous  degeneration.  Whether  in  or  out  of  the 
intestine,  whether  in  manure  on  the  stable  floor,  or  buried  deep  in 
the  tissues  of  a  susceptible  animal,  it  always  possesses  this  patho- 
genic property.  But  in  the  lumen  of  the  intestine,  possessing  an 
intact  epithelial  lining,  the  necrosis  bacillus  is,  for  the  time  being, 
without  effect.  However,  let  this  epithelium  be  injured  by  a  foreign 
bodj7,  by  corrosive  fluids,  by  the  action,  for  instance,  of  the  hog  cholera 
bacillus,  and  at  once  an  entrance  into  the  intestinal  wall  is  afforded  the 
necrosis  bacillus,  with  the  result  that  there  develop  diarrhea  and  caseo- 
necrotic patches  in  the  intestines.  This  relationship  of  the  intact  epi- 
thelial covering  to  bacteria  normally  present  in  the  intestine  was  well 


brought  out  in  Jensen's  experiments  on  calves  with  reference  to  white 
scours. 

As  to  the  infection  of  a  single  calf  or  pig  or  the  initial  infection  of  a 
herd,  it.is  evident  that,  inasmuch  as  the  Bacillus  necrophvrm  is  a  normal 
inhabitant  of  the  intestine  of  healthy  hogs  and  presumably  of  cattle, 
the  manure  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  chief  agent  in  transmission. 
Hence  a  most  common  method  of  infection  in  the  calf  or  pig,  when  the 
gums  are  abraded  or  torn  in  connection  with  the  eruption  of  the  teeth, 
is  suckling  the  cow  or  sow  when  the  teats  are  filthy  with  manure. 
Again,  the  animal  munching  a  little  ha}*  or  straw  which  has  been  con- 
taminated with  manure  may  receive  a  stab  at  some  point  of  the  mucous 
membrane  of  the  mouth  by  which  the  necrosis  bacillus  is  introduced 
into  the  tissues. 

The  transfer  of  the  disease  from  one  animal  to  another  occurs  time 
after  time  when  newly  born  animals  are  placed  successively  in  a  pen 
previous!}7  occupied  by  an  animal  that  had  contracted  the  disease.  In 
this  connection  it  must  be  remarked  that  the  question  is  not  alone 
that  of  the  transmission  of  the  disease  of  necrotic  stomatitis,  but  of 
the  transfer  from  one  animal  to  another  of  the  infective  agent.  In 
whatever  part  of  the  animal  body  the  Bacillus  necrophvrus  may  have 
instituted  the  caseonecrotic  inflammation  which  characterizes  its  patho- 
genic role,  by  whatever  name  the  disease  process  may  be  called,  be  it 
foot- rot,  necrotic  quittor,  necrotic  scratches,  necrotic  vaginitis,  or 
metritis  or  necrotic  stomatitis,  there  we  find  a  hotbed  of  infection  and 
the  certain  groundwork  of  an  enzootic.  Hence  the  occupanc}'  of  the 
calving  stall  by  a  cow  affected  with  panaritium  or  by  a  cow  suffering 
with  a  vaginitis  dependent  upon  this  bacillus  is  sufficient  to  insure  the 
development  of  a  series  of  cases  of  necrotic  stomatitis.  The  same 
principle  is  involved  in  the  dissemination  of  the  disease  through  one 
or  more  litters  of  pigs.  The  very  first  investigator  in  this  line  made 
the  experiment  of  placing  a  health}^  calf  in  a  stall  with  two  calves 
affected  with  the  disease.  The  third  calf  came  down  in  five  days  with 
the  same  malady.  The  author  considered  the  calves'  habit  of  licking 
one  another  as  being  chargeable  with  the  transmission  of  the  disease. 
Blajfekovic* 5  also  reports  an  unintentional  experiment  of  the  same  sort. 
The  exposed  calf  began  to  cough  in  three  or  four  days,  after  which 
the  necrotic  patches  were  visible  in  its  mouth.  It  is  also  recognized 
that  the  practice  of  feeding  calves  from  the  same  vessel  or  bucket  and 
pigs  from  the  same  trough  may  be  responsible  for  the  transmission  of 
the  affection. 

The  proof  of  the  transmissibility  of  the  disease  from  one  species  to 

another  was  secured  by  Dammann,9  who  inoculated  a  bit  of  necrotic 

material  from  the  mouth  of  a  calf,  dead  with  the  disease,  into  the 

.  mouth  of  a  four-days-old  lamb.     In  four  days  the  lamb  died,  with 

postmortem  findings  which  established  the  success  of  the  experiment. 


36  BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 

It  may  .safely  be  assumed  that  any  species  which  has  shown  a  suscepti- 
bility to  the  bacillus  in  any  portion  of  the  body  may  be  attacked  with 
necrotic  stomatitis,  the  conditions  for  the  inoculation  of  the  germ 
being  present. 

The  study  of  the  transmissibility  to  man  of  necrotic  stomatitis  of 
animals  involves  not  only  the  question  of  the  pathogenicity  for  man  of 
the  infective  agent  of  necrotic  stomatitis,  but  also  that  other  interest- 
ing and  important  question  of  the  relation  of  animal  diphtherias  to  man. 
This  latter  question  will  be  treated  separately.  The  former  question 
is  not  really  involved  in  the  latter  because,  as  we  have  shown,  necrotic 
stomatitis  is  not  a  diphtheria.  Still,  of  interest  are  the  questions, 
Can  man  contract  disease  from  cases  of  necrotic  stomatitis  in  animals? 
Is  Bacillus  necrophoru*  pathogenic  for  man?  An  affirmative  answer 
to  the  second  makes  probable  an  affirmative  answer  to  the  h'rst. 

No  help  in  answering  the  questions  can  be  gathered  from  Dammann's 
experiences,  since  in  his  cases  it  was  also  the  question  of  a  virulent 
micrococcus  infection,  and  the  sore  throats  in  men  referred  to  by  him 
were  no  doubt  infections  of  this  sort.  However,  Schmorl  records  the 
case  of  himself  and  servant  in  the  laboratory,  both  of  whom  developed 
small  digital  abscesses,  in  the  contents  of  which  were  demonstrated  both 
micrococci  and  undoubted  forms  of  Bacillus,  necrophorus.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  guinea  pigs,  ordinarily  immune,  may  be  successfully 
infected  with  Bacillus  necrophorws  when  the  tissues  have  been  previ- 
ously invaded  by  a  micrococcus,  it  is  readily  seen  that,  under  like  cir- 
cumstances inman.the  necrosis  bacillus  might  play  the  roleof  a  secondary 
invader.  Right  here  it  must  be  remembered  that,  as  already  referred 
to,  Lcffler  had  met  with  Bacillus  necrophorm,  not  only  in  his  calf- 
diphtheria  investigation,  but  also  in  some  experiments  looking  toward 
the  transmission  to  rabbits  of  syphilitic  products.  Out  of  four  rab- 
bits inoculated  in  the  anterior  chamber  of  the  eye  with  bits  of  a  condy- 
loma  latum,  two  died  with  local  and  metastatic  necrosis,  exhibiting  the 
characteristic  bacteriological  pictures  of  Bacillus  necrophorus.  Loffler 
also  makes  the  statement  that  he  had  several  times  seen,  in  addition 
to  others,  similar  bacteria  in  the  surface  exudate  of  ulcerating  condy- 
lomata  lata,  and  that  such  bacteria  were  also  present  in  the  exudate  of 
the  inoculated  condyloma.  Jensen  makes  the  suggestion  that  the 
deeply  penetrating  necroses,  for  example,  of  the  intestine  after  typhoid 
and  scarlet  fevers,  of  the  throat  in  scarlet  fever,  of  the  cheeks  (noma) 
after  scarlet  fever,  measles,  etc.,  of  the  fingers  in  panaris,  offer  inter- 
esting fields  of  investigation  with  reference  to  the  presence  of  Bacillus 
necrophorus  in  man. 

SUSCEPTIBILITY. 

Necrotic  stomatitis  attacks  principally  sucklings  not  over  six  weeks 
of  age,  but  calves  and  pigs  eight  to  ten  months  old  are  frequently 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  37 

affected,  and  several  cases  of  adult  cattle  showing  the  disease  have  been 
reported  in  the  works  of  Bang,1  Jensen,30  Berg,3  and  others;  also  in 
two-years-old  hogs  in  our  correspondence  from  pig  raisers.  More- 
over, Dammann,"  Loffler,*2  and  Diem  12  have  noticed  the  natural 
occurrence  of  this  affection  in  lambs.  The  presence  of  the  disease  in 
various  other  species  has  already  been  referred  to  in  a  previous  chap- 
ter. Sex  and  breed  play  no  role  in  reference  to  thi.s  malady,  as  it  is 
not  confined  to  either  male  or  female  nor  to  any  particular  breed  or 
breeds. 

ECONOMIC  IMPORTANCE. 

Although  occasional  reports  of  a  rapidly  fatal  disease  affecting  the 
mouths  and  throats  of  calves  have  been  forwarded  to  this  office  from 
various  sections  of  the  West  during  several  years  past,  no  fresh  mate- 
rial for  an  investigation  into  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  affection 
could  be  procured  until  1902  and  1903,  when  a  number  of  rather 
severe  outbreaks  occurred  in  Colorado,  western  South  Dakota,  and 
eastern  Wyoming.  From  the  history,  symptoms,  and  lesions  of  the 
affected  animals  described  in  these  letters,  it  seemed  probable  that  the 
disease  was  the  so-called  calf  diphtheria  of  Europe,  but  this  suspicion 
could  not  be  verified  until  specimens  of  the  diseased  heads  of  calves 
were  received  through  Dr.  A.  B.  McCapes,  at  that  time  State  veteri- 
narian of  Colorado,  to  whom  we  extend  our  thanks.  Very  little  is 
positively  known  of  its  prevalence  in  this  country,  owing  to  the  lack 
of  familiarity  of  stock  owners  and  veterinarians  with  the  disease,  but 
it  is  doubtful  if  its  appearance  here  is  of  recent  origin.  The  veiy  fact 
that  the  causative  agent  (Bacillus  necrophorus)  of  this  disease  has  also 
been  isolated  in  this  laboratory  from  abscesses  in  the  livers  of  cattle 
slaughtered  at  Kansas  City  and  Chicago,  from  the  liver  of  a  deer  from 
the  National  Zoological  Park,  and  from  sheep  affected  with  foot- rot, 
would  indicate  that  the  organism  is  widespread  in  this  countiy,  only 
awaiting  an  opportunity  for  entering  the  tissues  of  a  susceptible 
animal. 

In  reviewing  the  economic  importance  of  this  disease,  considera- 
tion must  be  given  to  the  other  infections  produced  b}'  Bacillus 
newophorus,  some  of  which  are  even  more  grave  than  necrotic 
stomatitis.  The  presence  of  the  latter  disease  on  a  farm  would  indi- 
cate the  possibilit}'  of  the  causative  germ  affecting  other  susceptible 
animals  in  tissues  already  referred  to  in  the  chapter  on  pathogenesis. 
Thus  the  importance  of  this  organism  is  far  be3'ond  even  its  relation 
to  necrotic  stomatitis  of  calves  and  pigs  since  foot-rot  of  cattle  and 
sheep,  necrotic  inflammation  of  the  uterus  and  vagina  of  cows,  a  simi- 
.  lar  inflammation  of  the  large  intestine,  and  necrotic  scratches  of  horses, 
gangrenous  processes  of  the  lips  and  nose,  and  necrotic  stomatitis  in 
sheep,  may  all  follow  on  premises  contaminated  with  the  infectious 
principle  of  this  disease.  Among  the  letters  that  have  been  received 


38  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

requesting  information  relative  to  this  malady,  the  following  will  con- 
vey a  general  idea  of  its  nature  and  importance: 

Within  the  last  two  weeks  several  complaints  from  different  parts  of  the  State, 
mostly  from  the  mountain  regions,  have  come  into  this  office  regarding  a  disease  in 
calves  that  were  dying  from  sore  mouth.  I  have  just  returned  from  Gunnison,  where 
J  examined  several  calves  that  died  of  this  disease.  I  found  that  at  the  base  of 
the  tongue  and  in  the  larynx  there  were  large  sores,  some  of  them  as  large  as  a  silver 
dollar.  They  presented  a  thickened  croupous  matter  usually  white  in  color.  After 
this  matter  was  scraped  off  with  a  knife,  a  red  granulated  membrane  was  left.  The 
owner  told  me  that  in  some  cases  these  sores  appeared  on  the  anterior  part  of  the 
tongue,  but  in  the  cases  I  saw  they  were  at  the  base  of  this  organ.  The  trouble 
occurs  in  sucking  calves  of  one  to  three  months  old.  The  first  symptoms  noticed  are 
that  they  can  not  swallow,  and  soon  cease  to  nurse.  In  calves  that  are  old  enough 
to  eat  hay  or  other  forage,  large  boluses  of  food  are  found  between  the  lips  and  teeth, 
giving  the  appearance  of  a  large  swelling  on  the  side  of  the  face.  Practically  speak- 
ing, 90  per  cent  of  the  affected  calves  have  died.  One  party  lost  21,  another  10,  with 
no  cases  recovering  on  their  farms. 

Another  correspondent  from  Salida,  Colo.,  writes: 

We  have  lost  33  calves  with  throat  and  mouth  disease  and  will  lose  more. 

A  stock  owner,  writing  from  Lithia,  S.  Dak.,  states: 

There  is  a  disease  attacking  my  calves  and  which  is  new  to  the  cattlemen  of  this 
vicinity.  The  calves  stop  eating;  about  three  days  after  they  begin  to  foam  at  the 
mouth,  but  continue  to  move  their  mouths.  The  throat  swells  very  hard  and  the 
jaws  are  set  tight,  so  that  they  can  not  open.  A  foamy  pus  discharges  from  the  nose 
two  days  before  they  die,  and  they  seem  to  strangle  to  death  from  accumulation  of 
this  pus  in  the  nose  and  throat.  They  have  high  temperature  and  stand  up  and  lie 
down  alternately  during  the  last  two  days.  The  bowels  move  freely  and  there  is  a 
tendency  to  urinate  frequently.  Death  occurs  in  four  or  five  days.  Upon  cutting 
into  the  throat  or  larynx  and  nasal  cavities,  they  were  found  completely  filled  with 
thick  pus.  The  muscles  around  the  larynx  and  throat  and  back  and  under  the 
tongue  seemed  to  resemble  the  contents  of  an  abscess.  The  heart  and  lungs  seemed 
to  be  in  their  natural  condition.  I  now  have  7  head  that  have  this  disease. 

From  Aladdin,  Wyo.,  the  following  was  received: 

A  disease  has  broken  out  among  my  calves.  I  have  117  head  and  I  believe  half 
of  them  have  sore  or  ulcerated  tongues.  I  can  not  see  that  they  are  affected  other- 
wise. The  sore  is  generally  located  on  the  top  of  the  tongue  about  the  center  and  in 
some  cases  has  eaten  the  tongue  nearly  in  two.  Two  head  have  died,  and  in  one  of 
them  nearly  the  entire  surface  of  the  back  half  of  the  tongue  had  rotted  away  and 
contained  numbers  of  cavities  filled  with  pus,  but  I  could  not  find  any  foreign  sub- 
stance in  them. 

A  letter  from  Belle  Fourche,  S.  Dak.,  indicates  that  the  disease  is 
amenable  to  treatment. 

There  are  a  number  of  herds  (calves)  affected  in  this  country,  and  I  know  of  1 
cow.  I  have  been  using  boracic-acid  wash  for  mine,  and  they  seem  to  be  improving. 

A  ranchman  sends  the  following  record  of  his  observations  from 
Bixby,  S.  Dak. : 

All  of  my  calves  and  some  of  my  yearlings  have  some  kind  of  a  disease.  Their 
jaws  swell  and  sometimes  their  throats,  and  when  I  come  to  examine  them  I  find 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  39 

that  their  jaws  are  sore  on  the  outside  of  the  grinders  and  inside  the  cheek.  In 
some  it  rots  holes  in  their  tongues,  mostly  at  the  back  part.  The  breath  smells 
terribly  and  the  calves  get  dumpy  and  poor. 

A  letter  from  Mason ville,  Colo.,  suggests  the  possibility  of  the 
disease  originating  from  foot-rot  in  cattle. 

I  should  like  your  opinion  of  what  might  be  called  an  epidemic  among  my  calves. 
Three  of  them  have  been  attacked  with  swellings  in  the  lower  jaw  on  both  sides. 
Yesterday  one  of  the  calves  died,  and  on  examining  the  jaw  I  found  it  apparently 
rotten  on  the  inside  from  the  grinders  down.  There  was  no  pus.  Last  summer  I 
noticed  a  calf  of  this  same  herd  similarly  afflicted,  but  it  came  out  all  right.  Last 
summer  about  10  per  cent  of  my  cattle  were  troubled  with  their  feet  cracking 
between  the  hoofs.  They  became  very  lame. 

Mr.  G.,  of  Wheatland,  Wyo.,  requested — 

information  regarding  some  young  calves  I  have.  There  are  2  calves  less  than  a 
month  old  running  with  their  mothers.  One  of  them  has  his  jaw  swollf  n  up  on  one 
side.  The  other  calf  has  both  sides  of  the  jaw  and  under  the  jaw  swollen.  I  exam- 
ined their  mouths  and  found  "canker"  alongside  and  behind  their  teeth,  and  it  was 
awfully  offensive.  A  few  weeks  ago  I  lost  one  six-months-old  calf  with  a  similar 
disease. 

Many  cases  of  sore  mouth  in  pigs  are  reported  from  various  sec- 
tions of  this  country,  and,  assuming  that  these  cases  were  similar  to 
those  investigated  by  us,  it  would  seem  that  this  disease  causes  the 
death  of  many  young  animals  and  also  stunts  the  growth  of  many  that 
survive.  Almost  every  pig  in  the  litter  suffers,  and  litter  after  litter 
becomes  affected.  The  same  lack  of  recognition  of  the  disease  as  in 
calves  prevents  any  accurate  description  of  the  importance  of  the 
affection  in  pigs,  but  in  a  few  outbreaks  observed  it  was  noted  that 
from  60  to  90  per  cent  of  the  animals  in  the  herd  died  if  left  untreated. 
The  disease  in  pigs,  while  usually  affecting  the  young,  has  been 
reported  at  all  ages,  from  sucking  pigs  one  week  old  to  hogs  two 
years  of  age.  One  writer  reports  a  loss  of  33  out  of  50,  another  33 
out  of  37,  while  a  third  states  that  of  12  four-months-old  shoats  11 
succumbed  to  the  disease. 

DIFFERENTIAL  DIAGNOSIS. 

Necrotic  stomatitis  ma}7  be  differentiated  from  foot-and-mouth  dis- 
ease by  the  fact  that  in  the  latter  malady  there  is  a  rapid  infection  of 
the  entire  herd,  as  well  as  of  any  hogs  or  sheep  that  may  be  on  the  prem- 
ises; it  is  also  highly  infectious,  spreading  rapidly  to  neighboring 
herds  and  to  cattle  of  the  same  herd.  The  characteristic  lesion  of 
'foot-and-mouth  disease  is  the  appearance  of  vesicles  containing  serous 
fluid  in  the  mouth,  upon  the  udder,  teats,  heels,  and  coronary  bands  of 
the  affected  animals.  Drooling  is  profuse,  and  there  is  a  peculiar 
smacking  sound  made  by  sucking  the  affected  lips.  In  hogs  the 
mouth  is  not  so  likely  to  be  affected  as  are  the  feet.  Foot-and-mouth 


40  BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 

disease  has  appeared  in  this  country  on  four  occasions  only,  always 
near  a  seaport,  and  does  not  exist  in  the  United  States  at  the  present 
time.  In  necrotic  stomatitis  vesicles  are  never  formed,  necrosis  occur- 
ring from  the  beginning  and  followed  by  the  formation  of  yellowish 
patches,  principally  in  the  mouth. 

Mycotic  stomatitis  is  a  sporadic  disease  which  affects  cattle  of  all 
ayes  that  are  on  pasture,  but  more  especially  adult  animals.  It  is 
characterized  b}T  inflammation  and  ulceration  of  the  mucous  membranes 
of  the  mouth,  producing  salivation  and  inappetence,  and,  secondarily, 
affecting  the  feet,  which  become  sore  and  swollen.  Superficial  erosions 
of  the  skin,  particularly  of  the  muzzle,  and  of  the  teats  and  udder  of 
cows  may  also  be  present.  It  occurs  only  in  a  few  animals  of  the 
herd,  usually  in  the  early  fall  after  a  dry  summer;  it  does  not  run  a 
regular  course  and  can  not  be  inoculated. 

Actinomycosis  of  the  tongue  may  occur  as  superficial  erosions  but 
is  usually  deep-seated,  where,  instead  of  producing  ulceration  and 
destruction  of  the  mucous  membrane,  it  causes  a  diffused  induration 
of  the  muscular  tissue  of  the  tongue,  resulting  in  an  enlargement  of 
that  organ.  Hence  the  term  "wooden  tongue"  has  been  applied  to 
this  condition.  The  course  of  the  disease  is  chronic  and  the  tongue  is 
extensively  affected  before  attracting  the  attention  of  the  owner.  The 
indurated  tissue  when  incised  is  found  to  be  hard  and  gritty  and  con- 
tains bright  yellow  sulphur-like  granules  of  actinomyces;  which  are 
the  causative  agents  of  the  disease. 

PROGNOSIS. 

Ordinarily  animals  affected  with  necrotic  stomatitis  show  no  tend- 
ency to  spontaneous  cure.  Left  to  themselves,  they  either  die  or 
become  permanently  stunted  in  growth.  On  the  contrary,  if  taken  in 
hand  early,  the  disease  is  readily  amenable  to  treatment.  In  the  latter 
event  the  prospects  of  recovery  are  excellent,  and  under  favorable  con- 
ditions it  takes  place  as  a  rule  in  twelve  to  fifteen  days. 

TREATMENT. 
PROPHYLAXIS. 

Prophylaxis  should  be  carried  out  along  three  lines:  (1)  Separation 
of  the  sick  from  the  health}'  animals;  (2)  close  scrutiny  and  thorough 
disinfection  once  daiby  for  five  days  of  the  mouths  and  nasal  passages 
of  those  animals  that  have  been  exposed  by  the  eruption  of  the  first 
teeth,  by  the  shedding  of  the  milk  teeth,  or  through  association  with 
affected  animals;  (3)  complete  disinfection  of  all  stalls,  sheds,  and 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  41 

farrowing  pens  with  a  5  per  cent  solution  of  carbolic  acid  to  which 
has  been  added  sufficient  lime  to  make  the  disinfected  area  conspicuous. 
The  disease  appears  to  break  out  in  winter  and  holds  over  to  spring. 
It  is  conceivable  that  exposure  to  cold  might  so  disturb  the  normal 
circulation  of  the  oral  tissues  as  to  make  the  mucous  membrane  an 
excellent  location  for  the  development  of  the  causative  factor  of  the 
disease.  There  is  another  possibility,  however,  which  bears  on  the 
third  line  of  prophylaxis.  The  diphtheric  inflammation  of  the  vagina 
arid  uterus  in  cows  ,is  caused  by  the  same  organism  that  induces 
necrotic  stomatitis.  Ellinger 13  has  recently  pointed  out  the  almost 
constant  relation  of  such  attacks  to  previous  occurrences  of  foul-foot 
or  foot- rot  in  the  same  or  other  cattle  on  the  place.  In  all  likelihood, 
the  stalls  and  sheds  are  the  harborers,  in  such  cases,  of  this  germ. 
Why  may  it  not  be  that  many  of  these  outbreaks  of  necrotic  stomatitis 
in  calves  have  some  relation  to  preceding  cases  of  the  above-mentioned 
diseases  and  the  greater  use  in  winter  of  stalls  and  sheds  harboring  the 
Bacillus  necrophorus;  and  in  pigs  to  the  fact  of  their  following  cattle 
affected  with  one  of  the  above  diseases? 

THERAPEUTICS. 

The  treatment  consists  almost  solely  in  careful  and  extensive  cleansing 
and  disinfection  of  the  mouth  and  other  affected  surfaces.  The  mucous 
membrane  of  the  mouth  should  be  copiously  irrigated  with  a  2  per  cent 
creolin  solution  in  warm  water.  This  should  be  performed  at  least 
twice  daily,  but  care  should  be  used  with  this  as  with  all  other  antisep- 
tics, to  prevent  swallowing  of  any  considerable  quantity  of  the  solution. 
Since  exposure  to  oxygen  kills  the  bacilli  one  need  have  no  fear  about 
disturbing  or  tearing  off  the  caseous  patches  or  necrotic  tissue  during 
irrigation.  The  irrigation  of  the  sores  should  be  followed  by  the 
application  with  a  brush  or  rag  on  a  stick  of  a  paste  made  with 
salicylic  acid  1  part  and  glycerin  10  parts;  or  the  affected  spots  may  be 
painted  with  Lugol's  solution  of  iodine  (iodine  1,  potassium  iodide  5, 
water  200).  Frequent  injections  into  the  mouth  of  a  1  per  cent  car- 
bolic-acid solution  make  an  excellent  treatment.  In  calves  the  inter- 
nal administration  of  2  grams  of  salic3Tlic  acid  and  3  grams  of  chlorate 
of  potash  three  times  a  day  has  also  proved  very  beneficial. 

A  very  simple  and  efficacious  method  of  treating  pigs  is  to  catch 
them  and  hold  their  heads  for  a  few  moments  in  a  solution  containing 
in  each  gallon  of  water  2  ounces  of  potassium  permanganate,  or  in  a 
solution  of  creolin  of  like  strength.  This  treatment  may  be  repeated 
twice  daily  for  six  days. 

If  the  predisposed  animals  are  sucking,  it  would  also  be  advisable  to 
batbe  the  udder  and  teats  of  the  cows  or  sows  with  a  5  per  cent  solu- 


42  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

tion  of  carbolic  acid  in  order  to  prevent  infection  from  the  probably 
contaminated  manure  on  these  parts.  In  animal.-*  that  have  been 
weaned  it  will  be  necessary  to  feed  soft,  nutritious  food,  such  as  whole 
milk,  bran  mashes,  ground  feed,  and  gruels,  and  to  keep  clean,  cool 
water  constantly  within  reach. 

RELATION  OF  ANIMAL  DIPHTHERIAS  TO  MAN. 

We  have  already  shown  that  the  cause  of  necrotic  stomatitis  and 
the  cause  of  human  diphtheria  are  entirely  distinct  microorganisms. 
We  have  also  shown  that  the  disease  process  in  necrotic  stomatitis 
of  animals  is  markedly  different  from  that  in  human  diphtheria.  A 
superficial  resemblance  in  the  local  manifestations  of  the  two  diseases 
and  a  total  misconception  of  the  cause  of  each  gave  rise  to  an  identity 
of  terms  which  is  confusing.  As  we  have  elsewhere  stated,  calf 
diphtheria  is  a  misnomer,  false  in  its  characterization  of  the  disease, 
and  misleading  in  its  effect  upon  the  mind  of  the  public.  The  same 
statement  holds  with  reference  to  so-called  chicken  diphtheria,  or 
roup,  and  similar  affections  in  avian  species.  Many  different  species 
of  the  mammifers  have  revealed  disease  processes  in  mouth  and  throat 
that  superficially  resemble  the  diphtheritic  process  in  man.  but  the 
weight  of  evidence  at  the  present  time  goes  to  show  that  the  patho- 
logical alteration  in  many  of  these  cases  is  not  identical  with  that  in, 
human  diphtheria.  However,  satisfactoiy  proof  has  been  offered  of 
the  recovery  of  the  bacillus  of  diphtheria  from  a  few  isolated  cases, 
especially  in  the  cat,  horse,  and  dog.  At  this  point  we  would  remind 
the  reader  that  in  the  human  family  diseases  of  the  mouth,  throat, 
and  upper  air  passages  frequentl}7  arise  which  closel}T  simulate  diph 
theria,  giving  rise  to  almost  identical  clinical  manifestations,  but 
which  upon  bacteriological  examination  fail  to  }'ield  the  Klebs-Loffler 
bacillus,  thus  proving  them  to  be  distinct  from  diphtheria.  In  view 
of  the  apparent  resemblance  between  the  true  and  false  diphtherias  of 
man  and  animals,  and  because  the  former  disease  appears  to  be  inter- 
communicable  between  man  and  animals,  we  urge  upon  the  reader  the 
isolation  of  all  animals,  particularly  pets,  affected  with  mouth  and 
throat  diseases,  and  the  most  punctilious  observance  of  all  details  of 
sanitary  precautions. 

DISPOSITION  OF  MEAT  OF  AFFECTED  CARCASSES. 

If  necrotic  stomatitis  were  transmissible  to  man,  the  germicidal 
action  of  cooking  might  be  counted  on  to  obviate  such  danger.  Proof 
that  necrotic  stomatitis  is  not  transmissible  to  man  does  not  demon- 
strate that  the  meat  of  animals  so  affected  is  tit  for  food.  Other  fac- 
tors enter  into  this  question  of  the  edibility  of  such  meat.  The  disease 


NECROTIC    STOMATITIS.  43 

may  be  regarded  as  at  the  first  si  local  affection.  Now  it  is  manifest 
that  those  portions  of  the  animal  bod}'  affected  with  caseonecrotic 
patches  should  be  condemned  for  food.  The  remaining  portions  of 
the  carcass,  however,  if  in  a  good  state  of  nutrition,  might  be  placed 
on  the  market. 

On  the  other  hand,  should  the  disease  have  progressed  bej'ond  the 
condition  of  localization  to  a  condition  of  toxinemia,  which  would  be 
evidenced  by  emaciation,  enlargement  and  discoloration  of  the  lymph 
nodes,  and  cloudy  swelling  of  the  liver,  the  carcass  should  be  rejected 
as  both  innutritious  and  noxious. 

CONCLUSION. 

We  may  note  that  in  necrotic  stomatitis  of  animals  we  have  to  do 
with  an  acute,  infectious  inflammation  of  the  mouth  and  upper  air 
passages,  of  widespread  occurrence  both  geographically  and  zoologic- 
ally, caused  by  the  invasion  locally  of  a  thread  bacterium,  the 
Bacillus  necrophorm,  a  nonmotile,  polymorphic  anaerobe,  inhabiting 
normally  the  intestinal  tract  of  hogs  and,  in  all  probability,  of  herbiv- 
ora,  and  found  also  in  manure. 

The  disease  is  observed  most  frequently  in  calves  and  pigs,  and 
usually  in  connection  with  the  eruption  of  the  first  teeth,  although 
other  injuries  of  the  mucous  membranes  ma}"  be  the  starting  point. 
The  disease  process  is  a  clearly  defined  cheesy  degeneration  of  a  pro- 
gressive coagulation  necrosis  characterized  by  the  formation  of  ulcers 
and  caseonecrotic  patches,  and  manifesting  itself  clinically  by  saliva- 
tion, refusal  to  suck,  difficult  breathing,  and  rapid  emaciation.  The 
duration  of  the  disease  is  from  five  days  to  five  weeks,  these  animals, 
if  untreated,  dying  early  with  a  toxinemia.  Necrotic  stomatitis  is  not 
difficult  of  diagnosis  and  may  quite  easily  be  differentiated  from  other 
inflammations  of  the  mouth,  is  most  amenable  to  treatment,  and  hence 
offers  a  highly  favorable  prognosis.  The  exquisitely  infectious  nature 
of  the  cause  rendering  most  easy  the  rapid  development  of  an  enzootic, 
and  favoring  the  spread  of  other  forms  of  bacillary  necrosis,  some  of 
them  even  more  grave  than  necrotic  stomatitis,  lifts  the  disease  to  a 
high  place  in  agricultural  economics.  Evidence  is  not  at  hand  for 
pronouncing  it  transmissible  to  man,  and  it  is  absolutely  distinct  from 
human  diphtheria. 


44  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

In  the  bibliography  appended  all  the  works  referred  to  in  the  text  have  been  given 
and  several  additional  references  have  been  included  which  bear  more  or  less  directly 
on  the  subject-matter. 

(1)  BANG,  B. 

Oin  aarsagen  til  lokal  nekrose.     Maanedssk.  f.  dyrl.,  bd.  2,  p.  235.     Kj0ben- 
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Referat  by  C.  O.  Jensen.     Ueber  die  ursache  der  nekrose.     Cent.  f.  bakt., 
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(2)  BANG,  B. 

De  bakteriologische  forhold  ved  svinepesten.     Maanedssk.  f.  dyrl.,  bd.  4,  p. 
190.     Kj0benhavn,  1892-1893. 

Referat  by  C.  O.  Jensen.     Cent.  f.  bakt.,  bd.  13,  no.  5-6,  pp.  203-205. 
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Referat  by  C.  O.  Jensen.     Jahresb.  xi.  d.  fortschr.  in  d.  lehre  v.  d.  path, 
mikroorganismen.  jahrg.  8,  pp.  141-143.     Braunschweig,  1892. 

(3)  BERG,  V. 

Gangra'n0s  inundbeteendelse  hos  k0er.     Maanedssk.  f.  dyrl.,  bd.  8,  no.  6,  pp. 
205-207.     Kj0benhavn,  Sept.,  1896. 

(4)  BERNDT,  K.  T. 

Die  lebernekrose  bei  rindern.     Arch.  f.  wissensch.  u.  prakt.  thierh.,  bd.  21, 
no.  2-3,  pp.  194-196.     Berlin,  1895. 

(5)  BLAZEKOVIC,  F. 

Zur  kenntniss  der  kalber-diphtherie.     Deut.  ztschr.  f.  thiermed.,  bd.  4,  no. 
1-2,  pp.  64-77.     Leipzig,  Mar.  12,  1878. 

(6)  CAMPBELL,  THOMAS. 

Muco-gastro-enteritis  in  calves.     Vet.  jrn.,  v.  14,  pp.  404—408.     London,  June, 

1882. 

(7)  CAUDWELL,  WILLIAM. 

Bacillary  necrosis  of  the  lungs  in  a  calf.     Vet.  rec.,  v.  14,  no.  713,  p.  552. 
London,  Mar.  8,  1902. 

(8)  COLE,  R.  R. 

The  transmissibility  of  diphtheria  from  calves  to  pigs.     Vet.  jrn.,  v.  13,  pp. 
395-396.     London,  Dec.,  1881. 

(9)  DAMMANN,  CARL. 

Die  diphtheric  der  kiilber,  eine  neue  auf  den  menschen  iibertragbare  zoonose. 
Deut.  ztschr.  f.  thiermed.,  bd.  3,  heft  1-2,  pp.  1-27.    Leipzig,  Nov.  30,  1876. 

(10)  DAMMAXN,  CARL. 

Die  gesundheitspflege  der  landwirthschaftlichen  haussaugethiere.     1318  pp. 
23  cm.     Berlin,  Paul  Parey,  1886.     (See  p.  1007.) 

(11)  DlECKERHOFF,   WlLHELM. 

Lehrbuch  der  speciellen  pathologic  und  therapie  fur  thieriirzte.     2  v.     24} 
cm.     Berlin,  August  Hirschwald,  1891-1894.    (See  bd.  2,  lief.  1,  pp.  102-105, 

1891.) 

(12)  DIEM. 

Diphtheritis  bei  liimmern.     Woch.  f.  thierh.  u.  viehz.,  jahrg.  41,  no.  36,  p. 
339.     Munchen,  Sept.  7,  1897. 


NECROTIC   STOMATITIS.  45 

(13)  EL-LINGER. 

Zur  casuistik  der  iibertragbaren  bosartigen  scheidenentziindungen  des  rindes 
mit  besonderer  berucksichtigung  der  wirkungen  des  necrosebacillus,  zu- 
gleich  auch  ein  beitrag  zur  lehre  von  der  puerperalen  infection.  Berl. 
thieriirztl.  woch.,  no.  2,  pp.  25-29.  Berlin,  Jan.  8,  1903. 

(14)  ERNST,  WILHELM. 

Uebernekrosen  und  den  nekrosebacillu8(Streptothrix  necrophora).  Monatsh. 
f.  prakt.  thierh.,  bd.  14,  hft  5,  pp.  193-228.  Stuttgart,  1902. 

( 15)  FELDMANN. 

Diphtheritis  beim  kall>e.     Arch.  f.  vet.  med. 

Referat.     Revue  f.  tierheilk.  u.  viehz.,  bd.  1,  no.  6,  p.  94.     Wien,  June  1, 

1878. 

(16)  FLEMING,  GEORGE. 

The  transmissibility  of  diphtheria  from  animals  to  mankind.  Vet.  jrn.,  v.  13, 
pp.  153-171.  London,  Sept.,  1881. 

(17)  FLEMING,  GEORGE. 

Diphtheria  in  calves.     Vet.  jrn.,  v.  13,  pp.  311-315.     London,  Nov.,  1881. 

(18)  FLtfGGE,  CARL. 

Die  niikroorganismen  mit  besonderer  berucksichtigung  der  atiologie  der 
infektionskrankheiten.  23  cm.  Ed.  2.  Leipzig,  F.  C.  W.  Vogel,  1886. 
(See  pp.  265-266  (Bacillus  diphtheria;  vitulorum,  Loftier);  p.  276  (Bacillus 
necrophorus,  Loftier).) 

(19)  FLUGGE,  CARL. 

Idem.     Ed.  3,  2  v.,  1896.    (See  p.  61,  theil  2,  (Streptothrix  cuniculi,  Schmorl). ) 

(20)  FOULERTON,  ALEXANDER  G.  R. 

Streptothrix  infection  in  the  lower  animals.  Jrn.  of  comp.  path,  and  therap., 
v.  14,  pt.  1,  pp.  45-59.  Edinburgh  and  London,  Mar.,  1901. 

(21)  FRANCKE. 

Der  necrose-bacillus  als  krankheitserreger  bei  unseren  hausthieren.  Berl. 
tiehirztl.  woch.,  no.  25,  pp.  299-303.  Berlin,  June  22,  1899. 

(22)  GASPERINI,  GUSTAVO. 

Ricerche  morphologiche  e  biologiche  sul  genere  actinomyces  harz.  Ann.  dell, 
ist.  d'  igiene  sperim.  dell.  r.  univ.  di  Roma,  v.  2  (nuova  serie),  pp.  167-228. 
Roma,  1892. 

(23)  GRAFFUNDER. 

Die  schweinepest  in  der  Neumark.  Berl.  tieriirztl.  woch.,  no.  4,  pp.  39-43. 
Berlin,  Jan.  25,  1894. 

(24)  GRATIA. 

Quelques  considerations  speciales  sur  la  diphterie.  Ann.  de  med.  v6t.,  v.  39, 
no.  1,  pp.  1-11;  no.  2,  p.  81-87.  Bruxelles,  1890. 

(25)  GUNN,  ALEXANDER. 

Tubercular  stomatitis  in  young  cattle.  Veterinarian,  v.  54,  no.  639,  p.  170. 
London,  Mar.,  1881. 

(26)  HAEREN,  M. 

Den  s.  k.  "  brand bacillen"  (nekrosbacillen)  sasom  orsaken  till  brandig  difteri 
hog  husdjar.  (The  so-called  necrosis  bacilli  as  a  cause  of  gangrenous  diph- 
theria in  domestic  animals).  Eira,  v.  16,  no.  11,  pp.  336-338.  Stockholm, 
June  15,  1892. 


46  BUREAU    OF    ANIMAL    INDUSTRY. 

(27)  LMMINGER. 

Einiges  iiber  den  sogenannten  klauenkrebs  (klauennecrose)  beim  rinde. 
Worh.  f.  thierh.  n.  viehz.,  jahrg.  42.  no.  41,  pp.  377-382,  Oct.  11;  no.  42,  pp. 
381-393,  Oct.  18.  Munchen,  1898. 

(28)  JAMES,  J.  C. 

'Gangrenous  stomatitis. — Tu)>ercular  stomatitis. — Diphtheritis?"  A  disease 
affecting  the  tongue  and  mouth  of  the  ox.  Vet.  jrn.,  v.  13,  pp.  315-316. 
London,  Nov.,  1881. 

(29)  JAMES,  J.  C. 

"Tubercular  stomatitis."     Vet.  jrn.,  v.  14,  pp.  12-13.     London,  Jan.,  1882. 

(30)  JENSEN,  C.  O. 

Die  vom  nekrosebadllus  (bacillus  necroseos)  hervorgerufenen  krankheiten. 
Ergebnisse  der  allg.  path.  u.  pathol.  anat.  des  menschen  und  der  thiere, 
jahrg.  2,  1895,  pp.  122-129.  Wiesbaden,  1897. 

Referat.   Woch.  f.  tierh.  u.  viehz.,  jahrg.  41,  no.  15,  pp.  144-147.   Munchen, 
Apr.  13,  1897. 

(31)  JENSEN,  C.  O. 

Handbnch  der  pathogenen  mikroorganismen;  herausgegeben  von  Prof.  Dr. 
W.  Kolle  und  Prof.  Dr.  A.  Wasserman.  bd.  2,  lief.  9-12,  pp.  693-706.  Jena, 
Gustav  Fischer,  1903. 

(32)  JOHNE,  HEINRICH  ALBERT. 

Bericht  iiber  die  pathologische  anatomic.  Bericht  iiber  das  veteriniirwesen 
im  konigreiehe  Sachsen  fiir  das  jahr  1890,  jahrg.  35,  pp.  24-41.  Dresden,  1891. 

(33)  JOHNE,  HEINRICH  ALBERT. 

Bericht  iiber  die  pathologische  anatomic.  Bericht  iiber  das  veteriniirwesen 
im  konigreiche  Sachsen  fiir  das  jahr  1893,  jahrg.  38,  pp.  39-73.  Dresden,  1894. 

(34)  KITT,  THEODOR. 

Bakterienkunde  und  pathologische  mikroskopie  fiir  thieriirzte.  Dritte,  neu- 
arbeiteteauflage.  525pp.  illus.  24$  cm.  Wien,MoritzPerles,  1899.  (See 
p.  405. ) 

(35)  KITT,  THEODOR. 

Diphtherische  erkrankungen  bei  schweinen  und  kiilbern.  Deut.  ztechr.  f. 
thiermed.,  supplementheft  18,  pp.  81-88.  Leipzig,  1895. 

(36)  KOCH,  ROBERT. 

Zur  untersuchung  von  pathogenen  organismen.  Mittheilungen  aus  dem  kai- 
serl.  gsndhts.,  bd.  1,  pp.  1-48.  Berlin,  1881. 

(37)  KOUDELKA,  FLORIAN. 

Ueber  kiilberdiphtherie.     Oesterr.  monatschr.  f.  tierheilk.,  jahrg.  17,  1892,  bd. 
16,  no.  6,  pp.  250-253.     Wien,  June,  1892. 
Referat.     Berl.  tierarztl.  woch.,  no.  40,  p.  472.     Berlin,  Sept.  29,  1892. 

(38)  KRCSE,  W. 

Systematik  der  streptothricheen.  (In  Fliigge,  Carl.  Die  mikroorganismen, 
mit  besonderer  beriicksichtigung  der  atiologie  der  infektionskrankheiten. 
Ed.  3.  2  v.  Leipzig,  F.  C.  W.  Vogel,  1896.  See  p.  61.) 

(39)  LARSEN,  B. 

Kalvedifteritis.     Maanedssk.  f.  dyrl.,  bd.  6,  p.  50.     Kj0benhavn,  1894. 


NECEOTIC    STOMATITIS.  47 

(40)  LAURITSEN,  L.  J. 

Nekrotiserende  mundbeteendelse  hos  smaagrise.  Maanedssk.  f.  dyrl.,  bd.  15, 
hft.  4,  pp.  121-122.  Kj0benhavn,  July,  1903. 

Referat.  Berl.  tierarztl.  woch.,  Nekrotisierende  stomatitis  bei  ferkeln, 
no.  4,  p.  63.  Berlin,  Jan.  21,  1904. 

Referat.  Thierarzt,  Nekrotisierende  stomatitis,  jahrg.  43,  no.  3,  p.  53. 
Wetzlar,  Mar.,  1904. 

(41)  LENGLEN. 

De  la  gangrene  de  la  bonche  chez  lee  jeunes  veaux.  Rec.  de  med.  vet.,  se>.  6, 
t.  7,  no.  19,  pp.  969-982,  Oct.  15;  no.  21,  pp.  1091-1104,  Nov.  15.  Paris,  1880. 

(42)  LOFFLER,  FRIEDRICH. 

Untersuchungen  iiber  die  bedeutung  der  mikroorganismen  fur  die  entstehung 
der  diphtheric  beim  menschen,  bei  der  taube,  und  beim  kalbe.  Mit- 
theilungen  aus  dem  kaiserl.  gsndhts.,  bd.  2,  pp.  489-499.  Berlin,  1884. 

Referat.  Thierarztl.  mittheil.,  jahrg.  20,  no.  2,  pp.  25-28.  Karlsruhe, 
Feb.,  1885. 

(43)  MCFADYEAN,  J. 

Disseminated  necrosis  of  the  liver  of  the  ox  and  sheep.  Jrn.  of  comp.  path, 
and  therap.,  v.  4,  no.  1,  pp.  46-53.  Edinburgh  and  London,  Mar.  31,  1891. 

(44)  MCFADYEAN,  J. 

Metastatic  lesions  in  bacillary  necrosis.  Jrn.  of  comp.  path,  and  therap., 
v.  13,  no.  4,  pp.  346-351.  Edinburgh  and  London,  Dec.  31,  1900. 

(45)  McFADYEAN,  J. 

Private  conversation. 

(46)  MACGILLIVRAY,  A.  E. 

On  so-called  gangrenous  ulceration  or  degeneration  of  the  mouth  and  contigu- 
ous parts  in  young  calves.  (Tubercular  stomatitis?)  Vet.  jrn.,  v.  12,  pp. 
1-5.  London,  Jan.,  1881. 

(47  i  MACGILLIVRAY,  A.  E. 

Tubercular  stomatitis.     Vet.  jrn.,  v.  12,  pp.  377-381.     London,  June,  1881. 

(48)  MACGILLIVRAY,  A.  E. 

Gangrenous  stomatitis — tubercular  stomatitis — diphtheritis?  Vet.  jrn.,  v.  13, 
pp.  253-257.  London,  Oct.,  1881. 

(49)  MACGILLIVRAY,  A.  E. 

Four  cases  of  tubercular  stomatitis.  Vet.  jrn.,  v.  14,  p.  241.  London, 
Apr.,  1882. 

(50)  MACGlLUVRAY,  A.  E. 

A  chapter  in  the  history  of  tuberculosis.  Veterinarian,  v.  55,  no  655,  pp.  460- 
462.  London,  July,  1882. 

(51)  METHERELL,  A. 

Gangrenous  stomatitis — tubercular  stomatitis — diphtheritis?  A  disease  affect- 
ing the  tongue  and  mouth  of  the  ox.  Vet.  jrn.,  v.  13,  pp.  409-410.  London, 
Dec.,  1881. 

(52)  METTAM,  A.  E. 

On  certain  septicemias  and  some  other  infections  of  young  animals.  Jrn.  of 
comp.  path,  and  therap.,  v.  16,  pt.  3,  pp.  229-244.  Edinburgh  and  London, 
Sept.,  1903. 


48  BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 

(53)  NOCARD,  ED.,  et  LECLAINCHE,  E. 

Lea  maladies  microbiennes  des  aniinaux.  Ed.  3,  entierement  refondue  et  con- 
siderablement  augmentee.  2  v.  25  cm.  Paris,  1903.  (See  v.  2,  chap.  32, 
p.  383,  Bacille  de  la  necrose. ) 

(54)  OLT. 

Ueber  die  progrediente  gewebsnekrose  bei  thieren.  Deut.  med.  woch.,  jahrg. 
28,  Vereins-beilage  no.  37,  p.  287.  Berlin,  Sept.  11,  1902. 

(55)  OLT. 

Die  entozoischen  follikularerkrankungen  im  danne  des  schweines.  Ztscbr.  f. 
fl.  u.  milchhyg.,  jahrg.  8,  hft.  7,  pp.  121-123.  Berlin,  Apr.,  1898. 

(56)  PtVrz. 

Ueber  croupos-diphtheritische  erkrankung  unserer  hausthiere  und  deren 
beziehungen  zur  diphtheric  des  menschen.  Ztschr.  f.  vet.  wissensch,  bd.  1, 
no.  1. 

Referat  by  Johne.     Fortschr.  d.  med.,  jahrg.  5,  no.  6,  pp.  187-189.     Ber- 
lin, Mar.  15,  1887. 

(57)  HITTER,  JULIUS. 

Gierdiphtherie  und  ansteckende  Halsbriiune.  Allg.  med.  cent,  zeit,  jahr.  64, 
No.  83,  pp.  98.5-986,  Oct.  16;  No.  84,  pp.  997-998,  Oct.  19.  Berlin,  1895. 

(58)  SALOMONSEN,  C.  J. 

Bakteriologisk  teknik  for  medidnere.  Ed.  3.  268  pp.  iKus.  24  cm.  Kj0- 
benhavn,  P.  G.  Philipsen,  1894.  (See  p.  239.) 

(59)  SCHLEGEL,  M. 

Diptheritische  entziindung  der  oberen  verdauungs-  und  luftwege  1  eim 
schweine.  Bericht  iiber  das  veteriniirwesen  im  konigreiche  Sachsen  fiir  das 
jahr  1893,  jahrg.  38,  pp.  61-66.  Dresden,  1894. 

Referat.     Jahresb.  ii.  d.  fortschr.  in  d.  lehrev.  d.  path,  mikro-organismeii, 
jahrg.  10,  1894.  pp.  240-241.     Braunschweig,  1896. 

(60)  SCHMORL,  GEORG. 

Ueber  ein  pathogenes  fadenbacterium  (Streptothrix  cuniculi).     Deut.  ztschr. 
f.  thiermed.,  bd.  17,  hft.  5-6,  pp.  375-408.     Leipzig,  June,  1891. 
Referat.     Cent.  f.  bakt.,  abt.  1,  bd.  11,  no.  21,  p.  666.    Jena,  May  18,  1892. 

(61)  SCHUTZ. 

Der  streptococcus  der  druse  des  pferde.  Arch.  f.  thierheilk.,  bd.  14,  hft.  3, 
pp.  172-218.  Berlin,  1888. 

(62)  SlEDAMGROTZKY,  D. 

Diptheritis  der  kiilber.  (In  Haubner's  Landwirthschaftliche  tierheilkunde; 
zehnte.  ungearbeitete  auflage,  herausgegeben  von  Dr.  D.  Siedamgrotzky. 
747  pp.)  illus.  22  cm.  Berlin,  Paul  Parey,  1889.  (See  pp.  32-33). 

(63)  SMITH,  S.  M. 

Diphtheria  in  calves.     Vet.  jrn.,  v.  13,  pp.  249-250.    London,  Oct.,  1881. 

(64)  STEEL,  JOHN  HEXRY. 

On  gangrene  of  the  mouth  in  young  calves.  Veterinarian,  v.  53,  no.  363,  pp. 
831-835.  London,  Dec.,  1880. 

(65)  VERMEULEN,  H.  A. 

Necrose  ten  gevolge  van  bacillus  necrophorus.  Tijdschr.  v.  veeartsenijk 
maanblad,  v.  30,  no.  3,  pp.  102-111.  Utrecht,  Dec.,  1902. 

(66)  VOLLERS. 

Uber  beobachtungen  der  diphtheric  bei  kulbern.  Woch.  f.  thierheil.  und 
viehz.,  jahrg.  23,  no.  50,  pp.  432-434.  Augsburg,  Dec.,  1879. 

O 


........  l  I II  II II 

A     001  104042 


>r.   .f.   S.    Kelly,    curt:    Jilomer  >t    Michael    Co., 

oiiinrv,  111. 

Dr.  F.  I).  Kctchuiu,  Souih  Si.  Paul,  Minn. 
Dr.  A.  Long,  ca  iv  Sprrry  A:    iiarnes.  New     Haven. 

Coin. 

Dr.  ('.  Love-berry,  room  -Krj  Cn>-tom-Uouse  i  new  i. 

Portland,  Orcg. 

Dr.  II.  I).  Mayne.  Malone.  N.  V. 
Dr.  Lquis Metskcr,  room  -J'J,  X.  T.  Annijo   Hnild- 

ing.  AlbU(|Uer<iue,  N.  Me\. 
Dr.  J.  .Miller,  enre  John  Morrell  A:  Co.,  Oltumwa. 

fowa. 

Dr.  C.  L.  Morin,  St.  Albans.  VI. 
Dr.   A.   It.  Morse,   can1   The   Agar   Packing   Co.. 

Des  Moine*,  Iowa. 
Dr.    \V.   .1.    Murphy,   care   Springfield    Provision 

Co..  Bright  wood,  Mass. 
Dr.  \V.  X.  Neil,  care  .John  Cudahy  Co.,  Wichita. 

Kans. 
Dr.  II.  D.  Paxson.  care  Swill   A:  Co.,  Forl   Worth. 

Tex. 

Dr.  A.  J.  Payne,  care  Western    Packing  Co..  Den- 
ver, I  'oio. 

Dr.  I".  M.  Perry.  Fort.  Fairtield.  Me. 
Dr.    <;.    W.    I 'ope.    Animal    Quarantine    Station. 

Athenia.  X.  .1. 

Dr.  II.  T.  Potter.  Calais.  Me. 
Dr.  .1.  O.  Price,  care  Brittain  A:  Co.,  Marshalltown. 

[owd. 


Dr.  U.  A.  Kanisiy,  Fargo.  X.  Dak. 

Dr.   A.  <i.  (i.  Kiehardson,  7o7   Kmpire  Huildii 

Knoxyille,  'I'enii. 
Dr.  A.   K.  Kishel,  care  Cudahy   Pad- 

Angeles,  ('al. 

Dr.  W.  II.  Rose.  1"  liroadway,  Xew  York,  X.  V. 
Dr.  F.  I,.  Itnssell.0n.no.  Me. 
Dr.  .1.  F.  Kyder,  111  Milk  St.,  Uoston,  ' 
Dr.  K.  P.  SctmlTter,  care  Cleveland  P 

Cleveland.  Ohio. 

Dr.  C.  A.  Schautler,  l:il  South  Second  si..   Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 
Dr.  Thus.  W.  Scott,  care   The    Rath    Paekh 

Waterloo,  Jowa. 
Dr.  T.  A.  Shipley,  care  T.  M.  Sinclair  ,. 

i  'edar  Rapids,  Iowa. 
Dr.  X.  C.  Sorensen.  care    Rinnan  A:   (.'<>..    Iniliun- 

apolis.  Ind. 
Mr.  Win.  H.  Wiidt;,  Animal  Quarantine  St( 

Halethorp.  Md. 
Dr.  H.  X.  Waller.  lO'.i  West  Forty-seeoiid  St..  X-w 

York.  X.  Y. 

Dr.  <;.  .W.  Ward,  Newport.  Vt. 
Dr.  I',.  P.  Weiide.  Livestock  Kxchantre  Building, 

Ka-t  HutTalo,  X.  Y. 
lir.  W.  H.  Wray,  :;i  Strcutham  Hill,  London.  SW., 

England. 


DAIRY   IXSI'KCTOKS. 


W.  1).  Collyer,  -J10  South  Water  at,  Chicago,  111. 

.lames  Hewes,  1SUO  North  Churles  St.,  Baltimore. 
Md. 

M.  W.  Laiifr.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Wash- 
ington. D.  C. 

F.  A.  McDonald,  58  and  59  Downs  Block,  Sea  tile, 
Wash. 


Win.  E.  Smith,  10S  Chambers  st.,  New  York,  N.Y. 
B.  F.  Van  Valkenburgh,  lt;s  Chambers  st.,  Xew 

York,  N.  Y. 

Levi  Wells  (Bradfonl  County),  Spring  Hill,  Pa. 
(i.  M.  Whitaker,  P.  o.  box  i;«2,  Boston,  M 
W.  D.  McArthur,  114  California  St.,  San  Francisco, 

Cal. 


